Abstract
PROBLEMS connected with the climates of past ages have long exercised the minds of scientific writers, both from the astronomical point of view and from the point of view of the gradual development and distribution of plants and animals, since the earliest periods that have left recognisable records in the earth's crust. My task this evening is to deal with the nature and value of the evidence afforded by plants as to the climates at different periods of the world's history. Even before the study of fossil plants attained the dignity of a science (1706) the opinion was expressed that certain leaves preserved as impressions in Palæozoic strata in Germany bore a closer resemblance to existing tropical genera than to any European forms; and as investigation of the botanical records of the rocks progressed it became increasingly evident that fossil plants often exhibit a close agreement with species characteristic of regions warmer than those where the fossils are found. Plants, it has been said, “are the thermometers of the ages, by which climatic extremes and climate in general through long periods are best measured.” It seems a simple matter to draw conclusions as to the climates of former ages from the nature of the vegetation embedded in the rocks; but the more we consider the facts the more fully we recognise the difficulties of interpretation.
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Climate as Tested by Fossil Plants 1 . Nature 94, 242–246 (1914). https://doi.org/10.1038/094242a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/094242a0