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, 



short of 15,000 feet above the sea level, which is considerably higher 

 than Mt. Shasta, hitherto regarded as the. most lofty peak in the 

 United States. Prof. Whitney also states, that it is by no means 

 impossible that some other points of the range are even yet more 

 elevated. 



These great mountains lie for the most part between the heads of 

 King's and Kern rivers, someAvhat north of the north end of Owen's 

 lake. Between the peaks are vast snow-fields, and also numberless 

 deep lakes, of which the most elevated are frozen. The sides of these 

 mountains are clothed in part with a new, and as yet not named, spe- 

 cies of pine, of a peculiar black, or bluish-green color, which color 

 " rather augments than relieves the desolate naked aspect" of the vast 

 masses of granite and snow. 



ON THE GLACIAL EPOCH. 



The following is the abstract of a lecture recently given on the above 

 subject, before the Royal Institution, by Prof. Frankland. He referred 

 to the fact, that in every part of the globe, indubitable evidences are found 

 of the characteristic grinding and polishing action of ice-masses, and that 

 a recent visit to Norway had led him to devote much attention to the ex- 

 amination of the causes of the formation of these mighty agents ; since 

 modern research has led to the conclusion that the glaciers of the present 

 time were merely the dried-up streamlets of ancient ice-rivers of enormous 

 size, and which have evaded the valleys of the Alps, scooped out the lochs 

 of Scotland, formed the fjords of Norway, and largely contributed features 

 in our own mountain scenery. 



Two thousand miles of coast, from Christiana to North Cape, are ice- 

 scarred ; the rocks rarely rising above 700 feet or 800 feet ; and not pre- 

 senting a sharp, rugged outline, but being polished and smooth to their 

 summits. When, however, the Arctic Circle is approached, the scenery 

 is changed, the hills become mountains, with peaks which have owed their 

 immunity from the abrading influence of ice action entirely to their hight, 

 the lower parts being smooth and polished, while the upper retain a variety 

 of fantastic shapes. Prof. Frankland referred to the following theories, 

 which he considered to be untenable on geological and physical ^grounds : 

 1. That the temperature of space is not uniform, and that our solar system 

 sometimes passes through colder regions than at present. 2. That the 

 heat emitted from the sun is subject to variations, and that the glacial 

 epoch occurred fluring " a cold solar period." 3. That at one time, a 

 different distribution of land and water had rendered the climate of certain 

 localities colder than at present. 4. Karrutz's idea, that at the time 

 of the glacial period the mountains were much higher than at present 

 (Mount Blanc, for instance, was about 20,000 feet), the secondary and 

 tertiary formation having been eroded from their summits during the 

 glacial epoch. Prof. Frankland stated that his own theory, based upon 

 Dr. Tyndall's researches on radiant heat and aqueous vapor, assumed the 

 formation of glaciers to be a true process of distillation, requiring heat as 

 much as cold for its due performance. The great natural apparatus would 

 be the ocean as the " evaporator,'' the mountains being the " ice-bearers 

 or receivers," and only in a subordinate sense the " condensers," the true 

 "condenser" being the dry air of the upper part of the atmosphere, 

 which permits the free radiation into space, of the heat from the aqueous 

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