SCENOGRAPHICAL GEOLOGY. 595 



by a force proceeding southerly. Whether you examine the bosses of 

 rock in the Connecticut valley, the Mt. Washington ridge, or the islands 

 of Winnipiseogee, every one that has not been shattered by the frost of 

 more modern winters shows a distinct smoothing and rounding upon the 

 north side, while upon the south the original roughness is preserved. The 

 terms stoss, or struck, and Ice have been applied to these two varieties 

 of appearance. Their origin is obvious. The immense ice sheet in 

 pushing southerly strikes every ledge with prodigious energy; and the 

 flinty fragments frozen into the congealed mass will break off all rock 

 projections in the way, and smooth over that which is too solid to be 

 broken. And this force will be exerted entirely upon the sides that re- 

 ceive the blows, consequently the lee surfaces will be rough and jagged. 

 This action shows why we have no pinnacles of rock, such as abound in 

 the Alps. The Swiss glaciers have plowed around these pinnacles, and 

 left them standing ; but the American continental Drift was of such vast 

 proportions that the needles disappeared as though they were pebbles in 

 the path of the ordinary river of ice. This statement is intended to 

 apply only to North America east of the Missouri and north of the Ohio 

 rivers. 



For examples of this action on a small scale, let every New Hampshire 

 reader search out the nearest freshly uncovered ledge to his residence, 

 and the markings will show themselves to his view, for they are every- 

 where. Then observe the shapes of mountains. Look at the profile of 

 Mt. Kearsarge, as seen from the east or west sides. There is a grand, 

 smooth, unbroken slope from the valley of the Blackwater to the very 

 summit, including a small foot-hill; while upon the south you observe 

 irregular hills, the "Mission ridge," "Plumbago point," and other irregu- 

 larities, where the ice passed over lightly without scraping off everything 

 down to the base. Monadnock shows the rounding very prominently 

 upon the northern slopes, but near inspection is requisite to reveal the 

 jaggedness on the south. Figs. 63 and 64, on pages 540 and 541, show 

 the stoss and lee sides, though the smallness of the scale of illustration 

 impairs the clearness of representation. The backs of Mts. Jefferson 

 and Adams have been smoothed over, their ledges, when stripped of 

 moss and trees, revealing the striations and polishing, while in the pict- 

 ure only a general rounding is apparent. In the other sketch, the 



