[192] “Antiquity of Man,” Second Edition, p. 237.

[193] Dr. Robert Brown, in a recent Memoir on the Miocene Beds of the Disco District (Trans. Geol. Soc. Glasg., vol. v., p. 55), has added considerably to our knowledge of these deposits. He describes the strata in detail, and gives lists of the plant and animal remains discovered by himself and others, and described by Professor Heer. Professor Nordenskjöld has likewise increased the data at our command (Transactions of the Swedish Academy, 1873); and still further evidence in favour of a warm climate having prevailed in Greenland during Miocene times has been obtained by the recent second German polar expedition.

[194] The following are M. Leverrier’s formulæ for computing the eccentricity of the earth’s orbit, given in his “Memoir” in the Connaissance des Temps for 1843:—

Eccentricity in (t) years after January 1, 1800 = √h2 + l2 where

h = 0·000526 Sin (gt + ß) + 0·016611 Sin (g1t + ß1) + 0·002366 Sin (g2t + ß2)
+ 0·010622 Sin (g3t + ß3) − 0·018925 Sin (g4t + ß4)
+ 0·011782 Sin (g5t + ß5) − 0·016913 Sin (g6t + ß6)

and

l = 0·000526 Cos (gt + ß) + 0·016611 Cos (g1t + ß1) + 0·002366 Cos (g2t + ß2)
+ 0·010622 Cos (g3t + ß3) − 0·018925 Cos (g4t + ß4)
+ 0·011782 Cos (g5t + ß5) − 0·016913 Cos (g6t + ß6)

g = 2″·25842 ß = 126° 43′ 15″
g1 = 3″·71364ß1 = 27 21 26
g2 = 22″·4273 ß2 = 126 44 8
g3 = 5″·2989 ß3 = 85 47 45
g4 = 7″·5747 ß4 = 35 38 43
g5 = 17″·1527 ß5 = −25 11 33
g6 = 17″·8633 ß6 = −45 28 59

[195] See Professor C. V. Zenger’s paper “On the Periodic Change cf Climate caused by the Moon,” Phil. Mag. for June, 1868.

[196] Phil. Mag. for February, 1867.