26 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb. 



On the other hand, T am bound to state that, although the new 

 theory has met with little or no favor on the continent of Europe, 

 it is supported by our able geologists, Jukes and Geikie. Again, 

 whilst Ramsay extended his view to the great lakes of the Alps, 

 the eminent physicist Tyndall speculated even upon all the Alpine 

 valleys having been formed by the long processes of the melting 

 of snows and the erosion of ice.* With every respect for the 

 reasoning of my distinguished countryman, I rely upon my long 

 acquaintance with the structure of the Alpine chain ; and now 

 that I see sound practical geologists, who have passed their lives in 

 examining every recess of those mountains, rejecting this new 

 theory, and pointing out in place of it, the proofs of ruptures and 

 denudations in the chain, I adhere firmly to the view I have long 

 entertained. f 



Those who wish to analyze this matter, must consult the admi- 

 rable essay of Professor Studer on the origin of the Swiss lakes. J 

 They will find numerous proofs of the views sustained by the leader 

 of Alpine geologists. He shows you, indeed, how many of the 

 rivers now flow in fissures or deep chasms in very hard rocks of 

 different composition ; chasms which water alone could never have 

 opened out, particularly in those cases where the river. has left a 

 softer rock, and, with very slight obstacles to its straight course, 

 has availed itself of one of these deep transverse natural gorges, 

 which have evidently been produced by a great former rent. My 



* See Tyndall on the Conformation of the Alps, ' Phil. .Mag.' vol. xiv, 

 1862, p. 169, and also Ramsay on the Excavations of the Alps, xvi, 

 p. 377. 



f Some remarkable facts have been mentioned to me in a letter by M. 

 Escher von der Liuth, as proving the inapplicability of the ice-erosion 

 theory to the Swiss lakes. 1st. That the glacier of Rosenlani, which 

 descends from a great altitude, does not enter a low deep narrow gorge 

 of the valley, but forms a bridge over it; and so it is to ba inferred, that 

 as the ancient glacier did not excavate this gorge, still less did it exca- 

 vate the great valley in which the present glacier is embosomed. Again: 

 he points out that, as the bottoms of many of the Swiss lakes are below 

 the level of the sea, the glacier which is supposed to have excavated the 

 hollow would have had to ascend considerable heights to emerge from 

 the depression which it had excavated — an impossible movement, and 

 contradicted by the existing operations of all glaciers. 



X 'Origine des Lacs Suisses,' Biblio. Univ. et Revue Suisse (Arch, des 

 Sci. Phys. et Nat.) xix, liv. de Fevrier, 1864 ; also Phil. Mag., vol. xxvii, 

 p. 481. 



