148 



a; title which seemed to him a recognition of the fall of aerolites, and 

 especially of meteoric iron, which, after oxidation, would closely re- 

 semble the oxidised pyrites. 



In Scotland and the north^of Europe, the term "thunderbolt" 

 had long been applied to ancient flint arrow-heads and stone celts ; 

 and throughout the island a well-known fossil, the belemnite, had re- 

 ceived the same appellation. The author did not regard those bodies 

 as named primarily in reference to meteorites, but rather as repre- 

 senting the popular idea of lightning as something shot like an arrow 

 from a thunder-cloud. 



The paper concluded with the suggestion that the art of working 

 iron had been learned by primitive nations from the manipulation of 

 metallic meteorites, the rusting of which further taught them that 

 brown and red hsematite contain iron. 



2. On the Glacial Phenomena of Scotland, and parts of 

 England. By Eobert Chambers, Esq. 



This paper commenced with an account of Ancient Moraines con- 

 nected with Corries or Small Valleys, Sir Charles Lyell had de- 

 scribed one as forming the retaining dam of Loch Brandy, on the 

 eastern skirts of the Grampians, and Mr Charles Maclaren had dis- 

 covered another in Glenmessan, near the Firth of Clyde. The au- 

 thor of the paper described a few others which he had discovered. 

 At Corryhashtel, on the side of Ben-Blaven, in the Isle of Skye, 

 there are three distinct parallel lines of blocks along the right side of 

 the valley, which are presumed to mark the right skirt of a local gla- 

 cier at three points in the history of its shrinking. In a deep rough 

 valley at the opposite side of the mountain, there are several mounds 

 of rough stones mingled with smaller detritus, which are presumed to 

 have been the terminal moraines of a glacier once filling that valley. 

 The author has likewise found detrital heaps and ridges, fully answer- 

 ing the character of moraines, in connection with various corries or 

 short valleys in the alpine districts of Applecross in Ross-shire, and 

 Assynt in Sutherlandshire, and in some of these instances he has 

 found the rocks in the valleys presenting smoothed and scratched 

 surfaces. 



The next section of the paper related to Proofs of Ancient Gla- 

 ciers in limited Mountain Districts. The author had recently as- 



