THE HISTORY OF GEOLOGY AT OXFORD. 45 



Theory must occupy a prominent place in Geological In- 

 vestigation. The Subject appears to me the most im- 

 portant that has been put forth since the propounding- of 

 the Huttonian Theory : and the surface of the whole Globe 

 must be examined afresh with the View of ascertaining- how 

 far the Effect of Glaciers and Ice-bergs and of Floods pro- 

 duced by melting ice and snow can be found and identified 

 with the actual effects of Ice and Snow in our present Polar 

 and Alpine Regions." This prediction has been verified ; 

 even now, fifty years after these words were uttered, 

 observers are still engaged in the investigation of glacial 

 phenomena ; the subject still occupies as prominent a place 

 as it did then, and promises to do so for an indefinite time 

 yet to come. In another note Buckland comments on 

 " The vast field of new Enquiry which the introduction of 

 the Glacial period between our Epoch and the Newest 

 Tertiary opens to the Geological Enquiry. The fact of the 

 Greater Part of Europe and North America having for 

 many years been sealed up under a cover of frozen Snow 

 converted to the state of Glaciers is certain. . . . Thus the 

 flood that caused the Diluvium which in my Bridgewater 

 Treatise I have put back to the latest of the many Geo- 

 logical Deluges, was probably due to the melting of the Ice. 

 The details of this Ice flood will fill a Volume and will 

 constitute Vol. II. of my Reliquice Diluviance and Glaciales] 

 which for fifteen years has been retarded for lack of the 

 grand key which Agassiz has supplied in his Ettides des 

 Glaciers." 



Thus Buckland courageously recanted his earlier opin- 

 ions on the deluge; and - of the Noachian deluge as a 

 geologic agent from this time forth we hear no more. 

 This was one of the Greatest benefits that Buckland 

 conferred on Geology ; commencing as the most power- 

 ful champion that had ever appeared on the side of the 

 Noachian deluge, he step by step and by slow degrees 

 was led to reconsider his position, till finally he aban- 

 doned it altogether, and left Geology freed from a mis- 

 taken doctrine to pursue her peaceful path, disturbed by 

 no difficulties, beyond those naturally inherent in the sub- 



