8 Sir G, S. Mackenzie on the most recent 



. If we suppose the cataclysm to have taken place in the 

 ■winter season, we can imagine the whole of the vapour falling 

 back on the surface in a frozen state. If, in the summer sea- 

 son, that portion which might fall below the line of perpetual 

 snow would be melted into rain, and then produce a formid- 

 able debacle. Indeed we can scarcely doubt that floods were 

 produced to a great extent ; but whether existing phenomena 

 indicate floods from this particular cause remains to be ascer- 

 tained. Without farther noticing this matter, we can imagine 

 that, whatever took place beneath, there would be very large 

 accumulations of snow above the line of congelation, such 

 as might have given the now peaked Alps the appearance of 

 a continuous ridge. So that, supposing the cataclysm to have 

 taken place at the most unfavourable season; and that rain 

 and floods were part of the results of the disruption of the 

 crust, still it would appear probable that such an accumulation 

 would take place in the upper and frozen regions as would be 

 sufficient for its subsequent descent, by its own weight and 

 other causes, to a lower level, and for its extending so as en- 

 tirely to fill up the valleys in the vicinity. The refrigeration 

 of the crust would also render the subsequent winter snows 

 more permanent.* We are familiar with the great amount 

 of snow which sometimes falls in ordinary seasons, and fre- 

 quently enveloping living animals ; and we know the solidity 

 which such masses acquire. We may, therefore, without dif- 

 ficulty, conceive the effects of an extraordinary supply to have 

 been such accumulations as may have given origin, not only 

 to glaciers on high mountains, but to a covering of ice to 

 the whole surface over which the cataclysm extended. The 

 broken crust, as soon as the cataclysm and its immediate ef- 

 fects were over, would begin to recover its temperature by 

 slow degrees. The records made at the present day of the 

 indications of the thermometer at various depths in diff*erent 

 localities, if continued, will enable geologists to ascertain 

 hereafter whether there be any increase now going on in the 

 temperature of the crust. Its elevation into its present shape 



* This has also been suggested by Charpentier, as well as the probability 

 of a succession of cold seasons contributing to the amassment of ice. 



