21(8 Professor Agassiz on the Glacial Theory, 



with them, considered the views promulgated as inadmissible. 

 The glacial theory, a for liori, was rejected as completely Uto- 

 pian ; and, assm-edly, there could have been no reason to com- 

 plain of this, if it had been merely a speculation elaborated 

 in the seclusion of a study, and apart from nature. In the 

 midst of the varied productions which bear testimony to the 

 activity of our epoch in all the domains of science, it is in some 

 degree a matter of necessity for a scientific man to engage in 

 such researches only as rest on a real foundation. Now, the 

 glacial theory, however daring it might seem, was supported by 

 numerous facts, which, though but little known, were not the 

 less positive. There lay the germ of its future career ; and 

 attention was speedily directed to these facts, as strange as they 

 were of general occurrence. Observations were made, re 

 searches were carried on, the data of the system were verified, 

 and discussions ensued on all sides. In the midst of this con- 

 test, the glacial theory has extended itself; and though it has 

 not obtained the suffrages of all, and still involves many con- 

 tradictions, yet the various facts belonging to it have become 

 the subject of serious study, and, at the present day, there is 

 no naturalist who does not recognise their importance. In 

 this consists the advantage derived from it by science ; an ad- 

 vantage of immense consequence, inasmuch as it promises to 

 us prospectively the solution of one of the most beautiful and 

 extensive problems in the history of the earth. It is no longer 

 a mere theory, which is the subject of discussion ; the object 

 of research is the connection of a whole series of phenomena, 

 apparently very different, but whose relations are evident to 

 all observers : these are the erratic blocks, the mounds of loose 

 materials, the ancient moraines, the polished and striated sur- 

 faces, the surfaces moutonnees, the furrowings of rocks in a 

 constant direction, and the whole group of remarkable facts 

 which an illustrious geologist has designated by the charac- 

 teristic name of the erratic pheno7?ienon. 



Since the domain of observation has been fairly entered, the 

 investigation has advanced with gigantic strides. The beauty 

 of the subject, the vast field which it embraces, the exciting 

 questions belonging to it, have awakened on all hands zeal, 

 interest, curiosity, and ambition. There is now not an aca- 



