Scientific confirmations of Old Testament history . , leaving for-eign boulders upon its very summit. It is altogetherprobable that its average depth was fully as great asthis. In Greenland at the present time the thicknessof the ice-covering over the center of the area is prob-ably much more than this. On this estimate, however, the mass of ice accumu-lated over the northern hemisphere at the climax of theGlacial epoch would be six million cubic miles, thusadding the pressure of this immense weight over thearea of accumulation to disturb the balance of forceswhich preserve the normal relation
Scientific confirmations of Old Testament history . , leaving for-eign boulders upon its very summit. It is altogetherprobable that its average depth was fully as great asthis. In Greenland at the present time the thicknessof the ice-covering over the center of the area is prob-ably much more than this. On this estimate, however, the mass of ice accumu-lated over the northern hemisphere at the climax of theGlacial epoch would be six million cubic miles, thusadding the pressure of this immense weight over thearea of accumulation to disturb the balance of forceswhich preserve the normal relations between the con-tinents and the ocean. Furthermore, not only was theweight of this mass added to the northern part of thecontinents, but, to furnish the accumulating snow overthis region, an equal amount of water was abstractedfrom the ocean. This would be sufficient to lower thelevel of the ocean two hundred and fifty feet the worldover, thus relieving the ocean beds of that enormousweight. It will help to an appreciation of the tremendous sig-. tc~~f- V- U 5! Ill i @T The Glacial Epoch as a Vera Causa. 223 nificance of this temporary transfer of weight from theocean beds to the continents to note that a mass of iceone mile thick would produce a pressure at the bottomof one hundred and twenty-five atmospheres, equal totwo thousand pounds to the square inch, or four billiontons to the square mile. The total amount of pressurethus transferred during the Glacial epoch from theocean beds to the northern part of America and Europewould be twenty-four thousand million million (24,-000,000,000,000,000) tons. If, as is by no means improbable, the ice was twomiles thick ( a little more than that of the Greenlandice-cap), the weight would be twice this enormousamount. Still better to appreciate these figures, one needs tocompare them with those expressing the bulk andweight of the continents. North America has an areaof 7,600,000 square miles, with an average elevationabove the sea of
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