Esmark on the Geological History of' the Earth. 115 



on which they rest. One needs only to travel through the 

 plains of Denmark, to perceive how improbable the supposition 

 is, that such masses could be placed where they are by water. 

 fin short, in every country, whether it be mountainous or flat, 

 we shall find similar traces of the operation of masses of ice. 

 The prominent conglomerations to be found in many districts, 

 may be easily accounted for in the same manner. But it is par- 

 ticularly in Norway I have found many proofs of the operation 

 bf immense masses of ice which have now disappeared. 



1. As in other countries we find large loose rocky masses 

 lying spread over pretty level plains ; for example, in travelling 

 from Marstuen, on the Miosen, to Leuten in Hedemark. These 

 must have been brought from a great distance, for there are in 

 the neighbourhood no mountains of the same character as these 

 masses. 



S. In no other satisfactory way than by the operation of ice 

 can we explain how those prodigiously large loose stones, some- 

 times with sharp corners, have been brought up to the ridges 

 and tops of high mountains, which are found in such numbers 

 in the province of Christiansand. The first time I met with 

 such single loose blocks lying on the ridge of the high moun- 

 tains in Numedal, I thought they must be the remains of 

 strata, or of masses which had covered the mountain, and which 

 had in after-times been decomposed and carried off by water, 

 leaving those traces of their former existence. But, on exa- 

 mining them more closely, I found that this account of the mat- 

 ter would not do, for I found that^ in their internal structure, 

 many of these stones neither corresponded with one another, 

 nor with the mountain mass on which they rested. By the as- 

 sistance of immense masses of ice, on the other hand, it is easy 

 to conceive how they could have been brought from a great 

 distance, and pushed high up on the mountains. 



3. In travelling over our mountainous districts, especially in 

 Osterdal, it will be frequently found that the slope^of the moun- 

 tain towards the valley is covered with large loose stones, mixed 

 with a great quantity of loose sand and gravel, and that this 

 covering extends to a considerable height over the bottom of the 

 valley. If we consider attentively this mixture of large loose 

 stones and gravel, we shall find that these could not have been 

 produced and brought hither by any current of water descend- 



H S ^^ 



