PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS. 83 



done with for good and all, but that no geologists 

 nowadays believe in it. If a more careful study of 

 the glacial phenomena has led most geologists to 

 abandon what I might call the "marine view" in 

 favour of the terrestrial one, a more careful study 

 of the fauna and flora will, I venture to think, have 

 the opposite effect. However, it appears that even 

 from a purely geological point of view more can 

 be said in favour of the old theory than Pro- 

 fessor Geikie and his school are ready to admit. 

 Thus we are told by Professor Bonney (p. 280), 

 in referring to the boulder-clay, that "the singular 

 mixture and apparent crossing of the paths of 

 boulders are less difficult to explain on the hypo- 

 thesis of distribution by floating ice than on that of 

 transport by land-ice, because, in the former case, 

 though the drift of winds and currents would be 

 generally in one direction, both might be varied at 

 particular seasons. So far as concerns the distribu- 

 tion and thickness of the glacial deposits, there is not 

 much to choose between either hypothesis; but on 

 that of land-ice it is extremely difficult to explain 

 the intercalation of perfectly stratified sands and 

 gravel and of boulder-clay, as well as the not in- 

 frequent signs of bedding in the latter." " Anything," 

 writes Professor Cole (p. 239), "that keeps open the 

 position maintained by Lyell and others, that 

 extensive glaciation is compatible with mild and 

 sheltered nooks and corners, and that much of 

 the distribution of boulder-clay was performed in 



