GLACIERS OF SWITZERLAND. 109 



this knowledge are now so perfect and delicate that it is not 

 necessary to wait a year to prove that a glacier moves. By 

 the use of a theodolite, and other modern appliances, you can 

 ascertain the distance wh'ich a glacier moves in a single day, 

 — yes, in a single hour. They move with different degrees 

 of rapidity ; they move as a river moves in its channel. 



In two visits to the glaciers of Switzerland, I have had 

 opportunities of observing this most interesting phenomenon 

 of ice movement, and I know of nothing upon our earth that 

 awakens in the mind a greater degree of awe and solemnity 

 than these great glaciers. As you walk upon the sea of ice, 

 the cokl, the solitude, the absence of all life and vegetation, 

 the deep silence which reigns, — only when those deep, deto- 

 nating noises are heard echoing among the rocks, which pro- 

 ceed from falling masses of ice, or from the cracking of the 

 main body, — all these awaken in the mind a high degree of 

 awe, and almost of terror. The motion of a glacier is greater 

 in the centre than it is upon the sides. If a line of stakes is 

 placed across a glacier, we find that the rate of travel in the 

 centre is more than double that upon either side. The ice- 

 stream obeys the same laws in descending from a high alti- 

 tude to a plain that water does, and it is held in check and 

 diverted from its course in the same way. Vast quantities of 

 rocks, pebbles, sand, etc., are brought along and piled up by 

 the sides of the glacier, or at the point where it terminates in 

 the valley. These deposits are called moraines, and are often 

 of great extent, forming high hills and ridges. It is probable 

 that some of you have visited the great glacier which descends 

 from Mont Blanc into the Valley of Chamouni, in Switzer- 

 land, and observed the terminal moraine formed at the point 

 where the ice melts as fast as it descends. This is an inter- 

 esting object, and illustrates forcibly the great power of ice 

 action. Embedded in this moraine are seen huge bowlder 

 rocks, which have been detached from the surface of the 

 mountain thousands of feet above the valley, and slowly 

 brought down and deposited by the melting of the ice. In 

 this way it is probable the bowlder rocks upon our farms 

 have been transported from distant points. Slowly, through 

 the long ages of the post-tertiary period, they moved down 

 from the north, embedded in the thick ice, and, by being 



