M. Charpentier on the Glaciers of the Canton Vdllais. 219 



apparently been transported by water, and not by glaciers. 

 This is proved more particularly by their becoming smaller the 

 farther they are removed from Switzerland, and by their being 

 deposited in a stratified manner. For example, blocks of five 

 or six feet in diameter occur near Lyons, 200 feet above the 

 Rhone ; while, in the plain of the Crau they are not more than 

 five or six inches in diameter. In order, however, to carry such 

 masses so far, a much larger mass of water would be requisite 

 than that now presented by the Rhone, a mass which can only 

 be accounted for by the occurrence of much larger glaciers than 

 those now existing. 



It only remains for me to indicate as shortly as possible the 

 the mode of reconciling the former existence of such enormous 

 glaciers with the facts which prove the higher temperature of 

 our climate at an early period. 



I think, that, at the time when the flat districts of Switzer- 

 land possessed a climate sufficiently warm for the production of 

 palms, the Alps did not exist. The Jura alone formed a high 

 land, separated to the south from the sea by a low land, a sort 

 of flat coast, which included all the land formed of molasse and 

 analogous rocks. Neither the Jura range nor the coast land at 

 its base was elevated to such a height above the surface of the 

 sea as at the present day. The low part of Switzerland formed 

 a real coast lowland. 



At some distance from this coast land, some islands stood at 

 no great height above the surface of the sea. Their vegetation 

 consisted chiefly of ferns, equisetaceos, and some monocotyledo- 

 nous plants, as the casts in the slates of Erbignon, Sal van, Ge- 

 troz, the Col de Balme, and other places, seem to prove. 



During this state of things, a great and probably last eleva- 

 tion of the Alps took place — an event which the labours of 

 Von Buch and Elie de Beaumont have proved to be one of the 

 most certain facts in geology. 



The power which effected that great operation extended not 

 only to the Alps, but also, though in an inferior degree, to the 

 Jura, and to the coast land lying at its base, and very probably 

 raised all of them to a much higher elevation than they at pre- 

 sent have. 



Every thing leads us to conclude that the Alps were at one 



