M. Charpentier 07i the Glaciers of the Canton Vdllais. 211 



the valley of the Rhone, and his observations on these blocks, 

 and on the particular circumstances in which they occur, have 

 convinced him that their removal cannot have been effected by 

 water, however enormous may have been its mass, and power- 

 ful its operation. 



It is my present intention to communicate, as shortly as pos- 

 sible, some of the facts which contradict the opinion of the re- 

 moval of these blocks by water, and I shall neither enter into 

 details nor instance localities, as M. Venetz is occupied with a 

 separate publication on glaciers, in which he will communicate 

 with care all his observations. 



In all localities where we find these blocks, their accumula- 

 tions present confused heaps of fragments of all dimensions, 

 from the size of a grain of sand to that of thousands of cubic 

 feet. There is, therefore, no separation according to the volume 

 or relative weight of the blocks ; a separation which must neces- 

 sarily have existed, had they been transported by the agency of 

 water. In that case, the largest blocks would occur nearest the 

 district where the flood had commenced, and the fragments of 

 rock would diminish in size, as the places where they have re- 

 mained lying, are more and more removed from that first point. 

 The largest blocks ought therefore to be found in the valleys of 

 the Alps, and the smallest on the Jura. There is, however, as 

 we have already said, no trace of such a separation ; for blocks 

 occur on the Jura of as large a size as any that are met with in 

 the valleys of the Alps. 



Water which carries bodies of any description along with it, 

 produces also, at the moment its progress commences, another 

 description of separation or division, viz. a separation into layers 

 or strata which takes place according to the volume and weight 

 of the masses which have been broken loose. Thus the water 

 forms superimposed layers of blocks, gravel, sand, and mud. 

 But there is nothing to be seen in the deposits of erratic blocks 

 of that stratified separation which, according to what has been 

 said above, must have existed, had these blocks been carried by 

 water to their present localities and positions. It is true that 

 we sometimes find strata of gravel, sand, and mud, in the vici- 

 nity of these deposits ; but such stratified displays are much too 

 partial and much too limited in extent, to give foundation to 



