246 THE HISTORY OF GEOLOGY 



flowed, the evidence was presented to a mind already 

 prepared to appreciate it, and a few days' personal 

 investigation sufficed to convince Buckland of the truth 

 of Agassiz' opinions. This was not a case of a mere 

 tyro, introduced to the subject for the first time, but of 

 a skilled and trained observer, familiar by experience 

 with results, the cause of which he had for long been 

 Drying vainly to discover. Here, however, it may be 

 better to allow Dr. Buckland to tell the story in his 

 own words. Among his MSS. I have found a rough 

 draft of a letter, evidently written to Agassiz, in which 

 he says : "In October, 1838, I for the first time attended 

 to the effects of Glaciers, which you pointed out to me 

 in the phenomena of polished and striated and furrowed 

 Surfaces in the S.E. slope of the Jura, near Neuchatel, 

 the origin of which, as well as the Transport of the 

 Boulders of Granite, &c., from the Alps to the Jura, you 

 referred to the Agency of ancient Glaciers. Not then 

 satisfied with your Explanation, I proceeded to devote 

 some days to the examination of actual Glaciers, and the 

 result was my conversion from a sturdy Opponent to the 

 adoption of your Theory as far as relates to Switzerland 

 by the strict accordance which I found between many 

 residuary Phenomena of existing Glaciers in the high 

 Alps, and similar residuary Phenomena that are equally 

 apparent on the S.E. slope of the Jura, fronting the 

 Alps " [I mentioned to you] " that Sir J. Hall had in 

 1812 described similar polished surfaces, grooves, and 

 furrows in the vicinity of Edinburgh, and that other 

 observers had occasionally noticed them on the surfaces 

 of hard Rocks, which have been protected from the 

 weather in many parts of Scotland and England. I also 

 proposed to conduct you to some of the most remarkable 

 of these spots on your visit to England in 1840, which 

 you have just accomplished." 



