92 THE GLACIER EPOCH OF AUSTRALASIA. 
be prepared to find that the older moraines, in the path of the 
descent of the more recent glacier, would partly be dis- 
persed, while some of its contents might be picked up, and 
eventually form part of the latter moraines of such districts: 
Thus, in respect of undoubted ice striated blocks, we must 
in some cases be prepared to find them as not indicating 
with certainty the mode of origin of the deposit in which they 
are now found ; but, like certain fossiliferous rocks, they may 
have been derived from an older formation. 
An enthusiast is also apt to attribute 2/7 lake basins as due 
to the action of glaciers, and is tempted to confound the 
debris of rocks adjacent to steep slopes of mountain due to 
‘gravitation, with superficially similar remains left in such a 
situation (lateral moraines) by the retreat of an ancient 
glacier. Of course, a typical geological sceptic may, from 
prejudice, err as widely in the opposite direction, and remain 
stubbornly unconvinced in the face of the most conclusive 
evidence. But, in the latter case, although the individual 
may injure himself, his very stubbornness may benefit 
geological science in causing search to be made for still more 
perfect evidence, and in causing the evidences already in our 
possession to be submitted to still more careful sifting and 
weighing. I have been led to make these remarks, certainly 
not as a reflection upon the judgment or conclusions drawn - 
by any of the very able observers commented upon in this 
review, but rather as my humble apology for venturing to 
criticise, generally, the opinions of men of better general 
qualification than myself, in respect of doubtful matters where 
independent judgment may, without either humiliation or 
presumption, arrive at very different interpretations with 
respect to the same facts. These remarks, moreover, apply 
as strongly to myself in respect of the contributions, for 
which I am responsible, regarding the evidences in favour of 
glaciation in Tasmania at two widely separated periods in 
the history of our rocks. 
EVIDENCE oF REcEntT GuactaL AcTION IN TASMANTA. 
Mr. Charles Gould, formerly the Government Geologist of 
Tasmania, was the first person who appears to have drawn 
attention to the abundant evidence of glacial action in the 
alpine valleys of Western Tasmania. His geological obser- 
vations in these regions about 40 years ago, amid great hard- 
ships and privations, extended over a period long enough to 
enable him to work up the topography and to map the 
characteristic rocks of a very large portion of what has been, 
until recently, a comparatively unknown and almost inac- 
cessible region. He has left no special memoir on the 
evidences of glaciation, but it was through verbal communica- 
