144 THK ICIO A(iK TN CANADA. 



utlontioii lias liccii directed. IJeceiit excavations in the 

 Montreal nioiinlain lia\e cnaliled I'rot'. Kennedv and Prof. 

 Adams to observe marine sjiells and gravel at a still hi,i,'her 

 level than that of the old beach aliovc; ("ote des Nei<res, 

 which was so l()n<f aijo descrilted by Sir Wni. Loi^an and 

 Sir Charles I.yell. The new ]M)sitions are i'i'A4 to about 

 (500 feet above the sea. Let us place this fact alon<^ with 

 the discovery of the skeleton of a whale at an elevation of 

 420 feet, as far west as Smith's falls, in ( )ntario, and with 

 that recorded by Prof, liell in the report of the (ieoloLjical 

 Survey for 1(S70-7I, of th(> occurrence of these same 

 shells on the hi^'h lands noilh of lal<c Sui»erior, at a 

 height which, taking' tlu> averaijc of his measurements, is 

 r)47 feet abov(> the sea level. Let us further iu)te the 

 fact, that in the liills behind Murray bay and at Les 

 Kboulenienls 1 have recoi-ded the occurrence of these 

 remains at the hei<,dit of at least GOO feet. We have, 

 then, before us the evidence of the submergence of a 

 portion of the Nortli American continent, at least 1,000 

 miles in length and 400 miles in breadth, to a depth of 

 more than a, hundred fathoms, and its re-elevation, with- 

 out any api)reciable change in moliuscan life. 



IV.— Date of the aiwial Pn-iixl. 



The (piestion of the time that has elapsed since the 

 glacial period is closely connected with that as to the 

 causes of the climatal changes involved. If these last 

 were astronomical, aiul dependent, as Croll * has ably 

 argued, on the varying eccentricity of the elliptical orbit 

 in which our earth moves, along with the gradual proces- 

 sion of the equinoxes on the eciuator, then the culmination 



* " Climate and Time in tlieir Geolotdcal Relations." 



