THE 



EDINBURGH NEW 

 PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL. 



The Glacial Theory audits recent Progress. By Louis Agas- 

 siz, Doctor of Philosophy and Medicine, LL.D. of Edinburgh 

 and Dublin, Knight of the Order of the Red Eagle of Prus- 

 sia, Professor of Natural History in the Academy of Neu- 

 chiitel, &c. (Communicated by the Author.)* 



There are few branches of natural science which have made 

 such rapid progress as the subject of glaciers and the phenome- 

 na connected with them. When, about six years ago, I invoked, 

 for the first time, the aid of a vast sheet of ice, covering the 

 whole northern hemisphere, in order to explain, on the one hand, 

 the transport of the erratic blocks distributed over the southern 

 flank of the Jura, as well as the surface of the north of Ger- 

 many, of England, of Sweden, and of Finland ; and, on the 

 other, the formation of rounded surfaces, which are often as 

 smooth and as highly polished as the finest marble, and on 

 which are traced fine parallellines, resembling those produced 

 by the burin of the engraver, I scarcely ventured to hope that 

 any impartial minds would take the theory info consideration, 

 so hostile was it to the ideas generally entertained up to that 

 time. The researches on glaciers and their former extension, 

 previously carried on by MM. Venetz and Charpentier, were 

 scarcely known to naturalists ; and those who were acquainted 



• The iiublication of this valuable Memoir has been somewhat delayed 

 in consequence of unforeseen cucurastances. — Edit. 



VOL. XXXIII. NO. LXVi. — OCT. 1842. P 



