M. Chavpentier on the Erratic Phenomena of the North. GO 

 north and south, and for whoso origin they have to seek '^ to 

 the north of Scandinavia, perhaps even beyond Spitzbergen 

 and the neighbouring islands, towards the polar regions."* 

 In order to account for the facts, it is absolutely necessary to 

 admit that this current, like a flowing tide, had risen on the 

 coast of Finmark to the height of 2500 feet above the present 

 level of the sea, because it is at that elevation, on tlie summit 

 of the mountain of Raipas and on the high plateau of Nor- 

 wegian Lapland, that M. Durocher found polished and grooved 

 surfaces of rock. But pure water cannot polish and scoop 

 out rocks; and we are thus farther constrained to admit, on 

 this hypothesis, that the current was charged with matter 

 from the bottom of the sea to the height of 2500 feet above 

 its present level. 



I confess I cannot conceive what catastrophe could have 

 produced such a current, a tide so monstrous ; nor can I ima- 

 gine the current itself, especially when I consider that this 

 mass of water could not be confined between the mountains 

 of a valley, but that it must have been accumulated on an 

 open and boundless sea. The supposition of the soultvement 

 of an island, of a vast island, even of a continent, does not 

 explain to me, in a satisfactory manner, this enormous current. 

 If the soidtvement was gradual, it could not occasion rapid 

 currents, and still less so great an accumulation of water on 

 the surface of the sea. We must, therefore, suppose that this 

 soidtvement was as sudden as the explosion of a mine ; but a 

 sudden and instantaneous sourtvement seems to me the least 

 probable occurrence in the world. 



But leaving aside the difficulties arising from the cause and 

 the mode of formation of this current, let ns suppose it to 

 have been such as is required by the hypothesis, that is to 

 say, endowed with great rapidity, and charged with materials 

 for rounding rocks, polishing surfaces to a height of 2500 feet, 

 and forming those accumulations of debris in the form of 

 mounds or causeways, known in Sweden by the name of osars. 

 In this case, I would ask, What has become of these materials ? 

 Have they, perhaps, been all employed in the construction of 



* M. Durocher, mmxn; p. 32. {Quuq.ks EaiduK, vol. xiv. p. 108. Edit.) 



