AIM OF THE PRESENT PUBLICATION. 



of the impersonal character of the authorship. It is, I am aware, 

 very imperfect and indeed unfinished, for the limits to which 

 I was confined obliged me to bring it to an abrupt close. As, 

 however, it contains general information which may be accep- 

 table to some readers (and in this respect might be read first 

 by those to whom the subject is not already familiar), I have 

 thought it best to retain it here. 



The Appendix contains a few documents by different writers, 

 referred to in the volume ; and a good Index has been added, by 

 the aid of which I trust that it will be easy to ascertain the pro- 

 gress of my observations or opinions on any part of the subject. 



The whole of my minor writings on glaciers are not included 

 in this volume. I shall close this introduction with what is, I 

 believe, a correct list of those which are not reprinted. The 

 reason of their omission has been, for the most part, my reluc- 

 tance to recal the memory of controversies long since concluded. 

 My desire is, that this volume may contain as few traces as 

 possible of personal discussions, nor one sentence which might 

 occasion pain to any reader. 



The main intention, indeed, of the present publication is to 

 appeal directly to what I have written as evidence of my share 

 in establishing a just theory of a great natural phenomenon, that 

 of glaciers ; and to do this by rendering accessible to all readers 

 the documents by means of which my claims to originality must 

 be decided. It is not for me to add to or take from the text 

 of what I have written. It is also more becoming that others, 

 rather than myself, should be its interpreters, and the judges 

 of what, after a fair and impartial study of the whole, my writings 

 shall be held to establish. This is the only favour that I ask. 



COLLEGE OF EDINBURGH, 

 February 1859. 



