very different scene. From the ocean
moisture-laden winds would flow over the polar lands. The snowfall would
necessarily be great. In short, we can not doubt but what all the land
of the earth would be covered with glaciers.<19>

Although these last conceptions are purely hypothetical, they will serve
the good purpose of showing the great influence that the geographical
distribution of land and water have on the climate of a country. Of one
thing, however, geologists have become more and more impressed of late
years. That is, that continents and oceans have always had the same
relative position as now; that is to say, the continents have followed a
definite plan in their development. The very first part of North America
to appear above the waters of the primal sea clearly outlined the
shape of the future continent. Mr. Dana assures us that our continent
developed with almost the regularity of a flower. Prof. Hitchcock also
points out that the surface area of the very first period outlined the
shape of the continent. "The work of later geological periods seems
to have been the filling up of the bays and sounds between the great
islands, elevating the consolidated mass into a continental area."<20>
So it is not at all probable that the lands of the globe were ever
grouped, as we have here supposed them.

This last statement is liable, however, to leave us under a wrong
impression; for although, as a whole, continental areas have been
permanent, yet in detail they have been subject to wonderful and
repeated changes. "Every square mile of their surface has been again
and again under water, sometimes a few hundred feet deep--sometimes,
perhaps, several thousand. Lakes and inland seas have been formed and
been filled up with sediment, and been subsequently raised into hills,
or even mountains. Arms of the sea have existed, crossing the continent
in various directions, and thus completely isolating the divided
portions for varying intervals. Seas have become changed into deserts
and deserts into seas."<21>

It has been shown beyond all question that North-western Europe owes
its present mild climate to the influence of the Gulf Stream.<22> Ocean
currents, then, are a most important element in determining the climate
of a country. If we would take the case of our hypothetical polar
continent again, and, instead of presenting a continuous coast line,
imagine it penetrated by long straits and fiords, possessing numerous
bays,