TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS, 18? 



nal or eternally-shifting ice reposed must be, from never being exposed to the sun's 

 rays, of a loose, boggy, or muddy nature, which facilitated slipping. The imder- 

 mining facilitated cracking ; and the very action of alternate freezing and thawing 

 between the exposed surfaces, serving as aqueducts along the upper portions into 

 which water woidd flow, must produce compact ice ; and its power in that very 

 action was quite adequate, by comparison, not only to remove ice, but even moun- 

 tains of earth, provided the point d'appui be aftbrded. 



It was evident with respect to the lower portions supporting Mount St. Elias, 

 and which were subject to a summer heat which ripened strawberries, and was 

 even more oppressive than we experienced in England, with the rapid thaws of the 

 inferior levels, that repeated fractiu'e and avalanches occurred. They must calcu- 

 ' late on sudden tremendous coucussive force, by the breaking away of whole ranges 

 and their precipitation on the lower strata. His opinion was that the shocks of 

 the avalanches conmiimicated laterally had produced such fractm-es as had been, 

 noticed in those peculiar pyramidal forms near Moimt St. Elias. These fractures, 

 opened, were filled by water, which probably froze at night or when the sim was 

 absent ; and expansion drove the exterior masses, which were termed bergs, into 

 the sea. 



Such was his theory, foimded on severe thought over a period of thirty-five yeai's, 

 vmder frequent contact with natm-e in actual operation. 



The Great Earthquake at Mendoza, 20th March, 1861. Extracts from a 

 Letter written by E.. Bridge to W. Bollaeet, F.G.S. 



This catastrophe, the writer said, was treated by all as an earthquake ; and, in the 

 simple sense of the word, it might be classified as such, as the writer foimd in Mr. 

 Bollaert's Avork on Earthquakes ; but he distinguished between an earthquake and 

 an internal miiption. The latter had evidently been the case at Mendoza, since its 

 efl'ects had been felt north, south, east, and west of the city, at Valparaiso, Coquimbo, 

 in Chili, San Juan (north of Mendoza), and El Rosario (east of Mendoza), more 

 or less equidistant. It was deficient in many of the characteristics of the earth- 

 quakes experienced in Chili, not having followed a line, no rain having fallen, and 

 difl'erences of time not having been observable. In fact, it appeared to have been, 

 simultaneous at all places ; to have been an upheaving exclusively at Mendoza, and 

 between that and the Andes. No volcano had, however, been foimd. The walls of 

 the buddings had fallen, indicative of having been rent in every direction, none in- 

 dicating any horizontal motion ; indeed, had there been any such, the loss of life, 

 estimated at 10,500 out of 13,000, would not have been so great, as the means of 

 escape would have been facilitated by different fallings. 



Cromleachs and EocJcing -stones considered Etlinolocjically. By P. O'Caila- 

 GHAN, B.A., Honorary Secretary to the PhilosoiMcal and Literary Society 

 of Leeds. 



The author observed that no stone object of human veneration or superstition 

 was so universally distributed over the face of the globe as the Cromleach. He 

 then gave the Celtic derivation of the word, implying " crooked " or " inclining 

 stone. ' He stated that, in consequence of its cimibrous obsti-uction, it has been for 

 the most part removed or broken up in the cultivated parts of Europe, and was con- 

 sequently now seldom seen but in desolate and secluded places, except where it had 

 some peculiar local protection. From this circvmistance, and especially from its 

 rude and massive proportions, its construction was vidgarly ascribed to supernatural 

 agency. After noticing the researches of Mr. Lukis and Sir R. Colt Hore, he said 

 that it was now conceded on all hands that the Cromleach was originally a tomb or 

 grave. He then described the manner in which he saw the Caribs dispose of their 

 dead — doubling up the body into the smallest possible compass, and depositing it in 

 a narrow excavation imder one or more large stones, to conceal and protect it from 

 the carnivorous animals of the surroimding forests. He thought that this was in all 



Erobability the most primitive, as it was the most natural, way of disposing of the 

 uman dead body, in man's savage state, all over the world. He inferred fi-om this 

 ttatthe original Cromleach was of natural or aceidental formation, and showed 



