﻿232 
  PROCEEDINGS 
  OF 
  THE 
  CALIFORNIA 
  

  

  at 
  least 
  the 
  perfectcr, 
  of 
  new 
  methods 
  in 
  science. 
  Yes, 
  Agassiz 
  was 
  the 
  orig- 
  

   inator 
  of 
  a 
  great 
  new 
  idea 
  in 
  geology, 
  and 
  the 
  introducer 
  or 
  perfecter 
  of 
  a 
  new 
  

   method 
  in 
  organic 
  science. 
  

  

  For 
  nearly 
  a 
  century 
  past, 
  glaciers, 
  their 
  structure, 
  their 
  mysterious 
  motion, 
  

   and 
  their 
  effects, 
  have 
  been 
  the 
  subject 
  of 
  the 
  intensest 
  interest 
  to 
  scientists 
  ; 
  an 
  

   interest 
  which 
  is 
  deepened 
  by 
  the 
  splendors 
  of 
  mountain 
  scenery 
  and 
  the 
  perils 
  

   of 
  mountain 
  travel. 
  The 
  most 
  eminent 
  men 
  have 
  successively 
  expended 
  their 
  

   energies 
  upon 
  these 
  problems 
  : 
  De 
  Saussure, 
  and 
  Oharpentier, 
  and 
  Huger, 
  

   and 
  Agassiz, 
  and 
  Guyot, 
  and 
  Forbes, 
  and 
  Tyndall. 
  To 
  the 
  physicist, 
  the 
  two 
  

   points 
  of 
  greatest 
  interest 
  are, 
  the 
  law 
  of 
  glacier 
  motion 
  and 
  .the 
  theory 
  of 
  gla- 
  

   cier 
  motion. 
  Now, 
  in 
  the 
  din 
  and 
  confusion 
  of 
  discussion, 
  as 
  to 
  whether 
  Agas- 
  

   siz 
  or 
  Forbes 
  first 
  discovered 
  the 
  true 
  law 
  of 
  glacial 
  motion, 
  and 
  as 
  to 
  whether 
  

   Forbes 
  or 
  Tyndall 
  advanced 
  the 
  true 
  theorij 
  of 
  glacial 
  motion, 
  it 
  seeems 
  to 
  have 
  

   been 
  almost 
  forgotten 
  that 
  to 
  Agassiz 
  and 
  Guyot 
  is 
  due 
  the 
  credit 
  of 
  something 
  

   far 
  greater 
  than 
  either 
  the 
  law 
  or 
  the 
  theory 
  of 
  glacial 
  motion. 
  I 
  put 
  aside 
  

   with 
  bare 
  mention 
  the 
  immense 
  mass 
  of 
  accurate 
  observations 
  accumulated 
  by 
  

   Agassiz, 
  and 
  embodied 
  in 
  his 
  great 
  works 
  — 
  the 
  " 
  Etudes 
  des 
  Glaceers 
  " 
  and 
  the 
  

   ." 
  Systeme 
  Glaciere," 
  a 
  treasury 
  from 
  which 
  all 
  subsequent 
  writers 
  have 
  drawn. 
  

   T 
  put 
  aside 
  also 
  all 
  questions 
  as 
  to 
  the 
  laws 
  and 
  the 
  theories 
  of 
  glacial 
  motion, 
  

   important 
  as 
  they 
  are, 
  as 
  trifling 
  in 
  comparison. 
  I 
  desire 
  to 
  fix 
  your 
  attention 
  

   on 
  only 
  one 
  great 
  idea 
  introduced 
  by 
  him, 
  viz 
  : 
  the 
  idea 
  that 
  glaciers 
  are 
  now, 
  

   and 
  have 
  been 
  to 
  a 
  much 
  greater 
  extent 
  in 
  a 
  previous 
  epoch, 
  a 
  great 
  geological 
  

   agent, 
  eculpturing 
  our 
  mountains 
  and 
  determining 
  the 
  forms 
  of 
  our 
  continents. 
  

  

  Let 
  me 
  trace 
  the 
  history 
  of 
  this 
  great 
  idea. 
  Agassiz 
  and 
  Guyot 
  had 
  studied 
  

   minutely 
  the 
  evidences 
  of 
  the 
  former 
  extension 
  of 
  the 
  glaciers 
  of 
  Switzerland, 
  

   Guyot 
  had 
  even 
  traced 
  the 
  outlines 
  of 
  these 
  ancient 
  glaciers, 
  and 
  thus 
  estab- 
  

   lished 
  the 
  existence 
  of 
  a 
  glacial 
  epoch 
  in 
  that 
  country. 
  With 
  these 
  results 
  still 
  

   fresh 
  in 
  his 
  mind, 
  Agassiz 
  visited 
  England 
  in 
  1844 
  or 
  1845 
  (1 
  know 
  not 
  the 
  ex- 
  

   act 
  date, 
  nor 
  is 
  it 
  important), 
  and 
  quickly 
  recognized 
  the 
  footprints 
  of 
  glaciers 
  all 
  

   over 
  the 
  mountains 
  of 
  Wales 
  and 
  Scotland, 
  and 
  astonished 
  the 
  world 
  by 
  an- 
  

   . 
  Bouncing 
  that 
  these 
  regions 
  were 
  moulded 
  beneath 
  an 
  ice-sheet. 
  In 
  1846 
  he 
  

   came 
  to 
  this 
  country, 
  and 
  again 
  tracked 
  the 
  steps 
  of 
  glaciers 
  all 
  over 
  the 
  sur- 
  

   face 
  of 
  New 
  England, 
  and 
  again 
  astonished 
  the 
  world 
  by 
  announcing 
  that 
  all 
  

   the 
  northern 
  portions 
  of 
  the 
  United 
  States 
  were 
  also 
  moulded 
  beneath 
  an 
  ice- 
  

   sheet. 
  It 
  is 
  unnecessary 
  to 
  trace 
  the 
  extension 
  of 
  this 
  idea 
  from 
  country 
  to 
  

   country 
  ; 
  suffice 
  it 
  to 
  say, 
  that 
  it 
  was 
  soon 
  recognized 
  that 
  there 
  was 
  a 
  glacial 
  

   epoch 
  not 
  for 
  Switzerland 
  only, 
  but 
  for 
  the 
  whole 
  earth. 
  Before 
  Agassiz, 
  the 
  

   study 
  of 
  glaciers 
  was 
  the 
  study 
  of 
  nice 
  questions 
  in 
  physics, 
  and 
  of 
  interest 
  

   principally 
  to 
  special 
  physicists. 
  Agassiz 
  transferred 
  the 
  whole 
  subject 
  into 
  

   the 
  broad 
  domain 
  of 
  geology, 
  and 
  gave 
  it 
  a 
  far 
  deeper, 
  broader, 
  and 
  more 
  general 
  

   interest. 
  The 
  result 
  was 
  not 
  only 
  a 
  powerful 
  impulse 
  to 
  the 
  study 
  of 
  glaciers, 
  

   but 
  a 
  flood 
  of 
  light 
  shed 
  upon 
  the 
  whole 
  later 
  geological 
  history 
  of 
  our 
  earth, 
  

   and 
  thus 
  an 
  enormous 
  impulse 
  to 
  geology 
  also. 
  

  

  But 
  I 
  said 
  that 
  Agassiz 
  was 
  a 
  great 
  reformer 
  in 
  zoology 
  also 
  — 
  that 
  he 
  was 
  

   also, 
  if 
  not 
  the 
  first 
  introducer, 
  at 
  least 
  the 
  perfecter 
  of 
  the 
  great 
  method 
  of 
  

  

  