THE GLACIAL PERIOD AND THE EARTH-MOVEMENT HYPOTHESIS. 253 



mollusca existing at that elevation is no proof that the land was 

 depressed to such an extent as to allow of their being deposited 

 there, and refers to a suggestion that tbej may have been forced 

 up by other action. I should say that much would depend upon 

 the precise position in which the beds were found, and the indica- 

 tions afforded by the surrounding circumstances, as to the manner 

 in which deposits were made, and I feel no doubt that Professor 

 Geikie would hardly have spoken of such beds of mollusca 

 being deposited by the sea instead of being pushed up by the ice, 

 if he had not thought that the evidence was sufficient for their 

 being deposited in that manner. As to the idea that mollusca 

 or small boulders can be pushed up to considerable elevations by 

 the means of ice, 1 have myself heard Professor Geikie point out 

 instances of that kind, and he has cited examples of small 

 boulders that must have travelled from all parts of the North of 

 Scotland down the valleys and up the mountains, and so forth, 

 under the action of ice ; so I do not think that Professor Lobley's 

 supposition of the possibility of mollusca beds being found in the 

 position in which they are found, would have been absent from 

 Professor Geikie's mind ; only in regard to the particular mollusca 

 beds to which he has referred I suppose his impression was that the 

 evidence was not favourable to the idea of that mode of deposition. 

 I will make one more remark as to Professor Lobley's observa- 

 tion concerning Professor Geikie's use of the term " Gulf Stream " 

 as applied to the agency which undoubtedly moderates the climate 

 of Western Europe. It is safe to say that in using that expres- 

 sion, Professor Geikie was quite aware of the fact that as a dis- 

 tinct marine river, the Gulf Stream can hardly be said to reach 

 the shores of Western Europe at all. It is well known that as a 

 marine river the Gulf Stream cannot be detected further north than 

 between the latitudes 40° and 50°, but for all that the effect of the 

 Gulf Stream on Western Europe must be very considerable indeed, 

 for the great body of heated water which leaves the Gulf of 

 Mexico by the Straits of Florida, and then flows as a distinct 

 marine river into a considerably higher latitude, must modify the 

 temperature of the surface or drift currents which succeed the Gulf 

 Stream proper in still more northerly seas, and of the winds that 

 blow over those seas and carry their temperature to more northern 

 regions. 



The Meeting was then adjourned. 



U 



