GLACIER PHENOMENA. 63 



by a toilsome industry from the marsh or 

 mountain ; and in addition, the fine finish of 

 nature if I may use the expression in the 

 rounded lower hills and hummocks, dome-like, 

 often in a manner insulated, so advantageously 

 contrasting with the loftier heights, the bold 

 girding mountains. I can readily believe what 

 you stated the other day, that glaciers have 

 .existed here. Are not the forms I have men- 

 tioned, with others, such as the terrace-shape 

 of many of the declivities, owing to their action? 



PISCATOR. It can hardly be doubted. There 

 is not a valley in the Lake District which does 

 not bear marks more or less of such an action : 

 the harder rocks recently exposed are invari- 

 ably found scratched and grooved in lines 

 almost parallel ; boulders are of frequent occur- 

 rence, and moved worn stones, after the manner 

 of moraines, and enormous beds of drift are 

 common ; in brief, here on a comparatively small 

 scale may be seen and studied all the pheno- 

 mena of glacier action, an epitome of what 

 is to be seen on a larger scale, and in progress 

 in the valley sof the Alps. 



AMICUS. What of their antiquity ? Are there 

 any data for calculating the age of the glaciers 



