E. MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY. 85 



period glaciers plowed their way down from the inland ice, 

 and icebergs broke off and reached the sea through the glens, 

 then ice fiords. Second, after this the country sank gradual- 

 ly, as Greenland is now sinking, to the depth of several hun- 

 dred feet, and during this .period most of the laminated fos- 

 siliferous clays were formed. During this period boulders 

 were deposited from the icebergs, and other floating ice drift- 

 ed both from the north and south, as was also the case dur- 

 ing the former period. Third, the country seems then to 

 have emerged from the water, but no doubt slowly, until the 

 glaciers finally left the country. Fourth, by this time the 

 country was much higher than now, and the land being con- 

 nected with the continent, the bulk of the present flora and 

 fauna crept into it from various quarters, though the Alpine 

 plants still kept possession of the higher mountain regions 

 during a great portion of this epoch. Fifth, a depression 

 now took place, and the esfruarine beds, or carses, of the Scotch 

 rivers were formed. Much of the fossiliferous boulder clay, 

 formed as he has described it, is now under the sea, off the 

 coast remains of its fauna being continually dredged up. 

 Man had also by this time got into the country. Sixth, the 

 land after this seems to have risen, in all probability, to its 

 present altitude, for we have no certain evidence that since 

 the dawn of history there were any oscillations of level. 

 5 A, July, 335. 



WAS THE PRE-GLACIAL HEAT CAUSED BY A METEORIC 



BODY ? 



A French savant, M. De Latterade, has communicated to 

 the Academie des Sciences the remarkable theory that during 

 the period which preceded the glacial epoch, when the tem- 

 perature of the northern hemisphere was far higher than it 

 is at present, as evidenced by the fossil remains of the Euro- 

 pean and American tertiary formations, this accession of tem- 

 perature. w,as caused by the proximity to the earth of a very 

 powerful star or second sun, which gave to the earth an im- 

 mense quantity of heat, and which has since receded into the 

 abysses of celestial space. M. Latterade contends that this 

 supplementary sun did not disturb the elements of the plan- 

 ets, because its attractive power was less than its heating 

 power. He states, moreover, that the heating power does 



