44 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



smoothing, polishing and striating the surface over which 

 they flowed, the evidence was presented to a mind already 

 prepared to appreciate it, and a few days' personal investiga- 

 tion sufficed to convince Buckland of the truth of Agassiz' 

 opinions. This was not a case of a mere tyro, introduced 

 to the subject for the first time, but of a skilled and trained 

 observer, familiar by experience with results, the cause of 

 which he had for long been trying vainly to discover. Here 

 however it may be better to allow Dr. Buckland to tell the 

 story in his own words : among his MSS. I have found 

 a rough draft of a letter, evidently written to Agassiz, in 

 which he says: "In October, 1838, I for the first time- 

 attended to the effects of Glaciers, which you pointed out 

 to me in the phenomena of polished and striated and 

 furrowed Surfaces in the S. E. slope of the Jura, near 

 Neuchatel, the origin of which, as well as the Transport of 

 the Boulders of Granite, etc., from the Alps to the Jura, 

 you referred to the Agency of ancient Glaciers. Not then 

 satisfied with your Explanation, I proceeded to devote some 

 days to the examination of actual Glaciers, and the result 

 was my conversion from a sturdy Opponent to the adoption 

 of your Theory as far as relates to Switzerland by the strict 

 accordance which I found between many residuary Phe- 

 nomena of existing Glaciers in the high Alps, and similar 

 residuary Phenomena that are equally apparent on the S.E. 

 slope of the Jura, fronting the Alps" [I mentioned to you] 

 "that Sir J. Hall had in 18 12 described similar polished 

 surfaces, grooves and furrows in the vicinity of Edinburgh, 

 and that other observers had occasionally noticed them on 

 the surfaces of hard Rocks, which have been protected from 

 the weather in many parts of Scotland and England. I 

 also proposed to conduct you to some of the most remark- 

 able of these spots on your visit to England in 1840, which 

 you have just accomplished." 



How justly Buckland estimated the importance of this 

 great discovery is shown by notes in his handwriting, that 

 were probably used to assist him in one of those remarkable 

 speeches the echoes of which still reverberate in our time. 

 In one he says : " For some time to come the Glacial 



