252 PROFESSOR JAMES GEIKIE, LL.D., P.C.L., F.R.S., ETC., ON 



which are now dry, but which were formerly filled with streams. 

 That is the special inference I wish to draw from this Paper; which 

 exhibits a wide knowledge of the subject it treats of. 



The Rev. W. B. Galloway, M.A., urged the greater probability, 

 in his opinion, of the older views of Cuvier and Buckland, which 

 accounted for the phenomena in question by a universal Deluge. 

 He alluded to the mammoth found in the River Lena, as making 

 against the long periods of time required by the glacial theory, 

 and suggested that the deluge had been caused by a change in the 

 earth's axis, mentioning that this appeared to have been the view 

 of the great astronomer Halley, who read a paper on the subject 

 in 1694, which appeared in the Transactions in 1724. 



Professor J. Logan Lobley, F.G.S. — The Paper, so far as it 

 goes, is noteworthy for its elaboration and clearness of expression 

 and for the weighty argument that it brings against the Earth- 

 movement theory to account for the climate of the Glacial Period ; 

 but I could have wished it had advanced some hypothesis to explain 

 the cause of that very remarkable epoch. An elevation of 1,000 

 feet would, as Professor Hull suggests, doubtless cause a great 

 altei'ation of climate, and might produce such masses of ice and 

 snow as would account for much of the phenomena, we observe ; 

 but I would point out that the depression which has been deduced 

 from the presence at high levels of recent shells on Moel Tryfaen 

 and other places, has been disputed. At a recent meeting of the 

 Geological Society a paper was read, in which the occurrence of 

 these shells was attributed to the elevating action of ice, so that 

 we can scarcely accept the great depression and elevation in ques- 

 tion as absolutely proved. Too much, I think, is made of the Gulf 

 Stream and its effects on the climate of North- West Europe. I 

 attribute our mild climate not so much to the action of the Gulf 

 Stream as to the general flow from the south of warm water 

 through the North Atlantic, and to the south-west winds that 

 come over those warmer waters. To Professor James Geikie is due 

 great credit for having investigated the phenomena produced by 

 the Glacial Period, but it is evident that still further observations 

 are required, before we can come to any satisfactory conclusion on 

 this interesting subject. 



Mr. G. G. Chisholm. — Professor Logan Lobley mentions one 

 possible way of accounting for beds of mollusca at considerable 

 elevation, and he implies that the mere fact of those beds of 



