FORMER GLACIATION OF THE 1'YRENEE:S AND THE VOSGES. 361 



In regard to the evidence on which is based the assumption that the ice 

 flow of tlie Rhone Valley reached as far as L^ons, it may be said that it is 

 not entirely satisfactory. If it is not positively stated by Messrs. Falsan and 

 Chantre that detrital material cannot be moved at all without the aid of 

 ice, that assumption seems tacitly to form the basis of their work. Every 

 boulder and every somewhat peculiar deposit of fine or coarse material is 

 unhesitatingly set down as a part of a moraine, or as in some vmy the result 

 of glacial action. In short, we have here something of the same difficulty 

 which presents itself at the other extremity of the Alpine chain.* 



The former glaciation of the Pyrenees, as compared with that of the 

 present day, appears to have been on about the same scale of magnitude as 

 in the Caucasus. As in the last-named chain, so in the more western one, 

 the ancient ice masses seem to have had much the most extensive develop- 

 ment on the northern side of the range. The most important glacier, accord- 

 ing to Martins,t was that which, heading in the "cirques" of Gavarnie and 

 Troumouse, descended towards Luz, and being joined by other smaller ones, 

 made its way through the broad valley of Argelez as far as Lourdes. No other 

 of the Pyrenean glaciers advanced so near to the base of the range as this. 



The proofs of the former presence of glaciers in the chain of the Vosges, 

 as indicated by Hogard and Collomb,t are clear and indisputable. The 

 largest one seems to have been that occupying the valley of the Thur, and 

 terminating at Wesserling, near St. Amarin, where well-marked moraines are 

 to be seen. The length of this ice flow, as mapped b}^ Collomb, appears to 

 have been about eight miles, and several smaller tributaries united with it, 

 especially from the western side. The moraines at the head of the Moselle 

 also, as described and figured by Hogard, are very characteristic. 



* II. Tanly, a Front-h geologist, denies some of the conclusions of Messrs. Fals:ui and Chantre, basing Ms 

 unwillingness to accept their statements as to the former jnvsence of ice over certain ai-eas on the fact tliat no 

 stria; have been found there. He himself being an advocate of the existence of Pliocene glaciers, a theory which 

 dues not meet the views of Messrs. Falsan and Chantre, they proceed to demolish liiui in this wise: "D'ailleurs 

 lorsipi'il s'agit de glaciei-s pliocenes dont I'existence ne nous est pas prouvee jusiiu'a present, 11 [M. Tardy] se 

 moutre moins exigeant. 11 n'a pas tronve de stries sur les galets, les petits blocs des pretendues moraines pliocenes 

 lie Varambon et des environs de Belley, mais il n'en poursuit ]ias moins son idee; les stries alors lui importent pen; 

 il vciit des ijlacicrs pliochies ct il en voit partoitf, meme lorsijue les galets ne sont pas stries " (1. c. Tome II. ]). 386). 

 In the opinion of the present writer the same statement will apply to many advocates of the existence of a Qua- 

 ternary tJniversal Glacial epoch, " fhey imcst have glaciers and they see them everywhere." 



t See a series of articles entitled, " Les Glaciers Actuels et la Periode Glaciaire," in the Revue des Deux 

 Mondes, 1867, Seconde Periode, Tome LXVII. pp. 407-432, 588-61.1, and Tome LXVIII. 189-223. 



t H. Hogard, Coup d'dil sur le Terrain Erratique des Vosges, Epinal, 1851; and E. Collomb, Preuves de 

 I'Existence d'Auciens Glaciei's dans les Vallecs des Vosges, Paris, 1S47. 



