174 REPORT — 1869. 



they might also be used for well-kuown and comparatively accessible moim- 

 tain-ranges like the Scandinavian chain, the Himalaya, the mountains of 

 'New Zealand, and in time to the Eocky Mountains, the Andes, and others. 



Sixthli/. Eut the above only forms part of the subject, and to attempt to 

 estimate the existing importance of " ice as an agent of geologic change," 

 the glacier and glacial phenomena generally as regards erosion and terrestrial 

 and marine transport of material must be taken into account in such regioi:is 

 as Spitzbergen, Greenland, and Victoria Land in the soiithern hemisphere. 

 Something on a small scale may be done in Spitzbergen and the southern 

 part of Greenland ; but at present we see no likelihood of definite observa- 

 tions being made on the western side of Greenland further north, and in the 

 extreme north of that continent, or on its eastern shores, either in respect to 

 the erosion produced by its great glaciers, the effect of iloe and shore-ice, or 

 the transporting work done by the icebergs that float southwards from its 

 shores. 



Something is known of the general results, but it seems very improbable, 

 with regard to the number and size of icebergs, and the quantity of matter 

 they bear southwards, that anything definite is likely to be ascertained at 

 present. The same remarks bear yet more strongly on the glacial pheno- 

 mena of Victoria Land. 



Seventlihj. But when so much remains to be done on the Alps and on 

 other accessible mountain-areas, such difficult points can aftbrd to wait for 

 the present ; and we are of opinion that perhaps it is possible, after the sub- 

 ject has been investigated with regard to the existing glaciers of the Alps, to 

 apply approximately the same method to the older extension of the Alpine 

 glaciers during the last glacial period, and to invent a process by which we 

 may be able in some degree to estimate the amount of erosive waste, and of 

 transport of moraine matter on the surface, of the great glaciers of that 

 epoch. Accurate surveys of the old moraines of that epoch would be essen- 

 tial to this end, such, for example, as that of the great moraine of Ivrea. The 

 extent of the glacier has been shown by Gastaldi, and the area occupied by, 

 and cubic contents of, the moraine must be estimated : and if it be possible 

 to feel our way towards the data, attempts must be made to estimate the 

 amount of waste of the moraine going on at the time it was deposited by the 

 streams flowing from the end of the glacier. Numerous other considerations 

 arise from this extended view of the question, one of which is, that perhaps 

 it may be applied to other glaciated regions where glaciers no longer exist, 

 such as the Vosges, the Black Forest, Wales, the north of England, Scotland, 

 ifec, thus : — Given an area such as the Alps and the Lowlands of Switzer- 

 land, covered with glacier-ice ; if an approximate estimate can be formed of 

 the amount of waste sutfered by that land due to glacier- action, so under 

 like circumstances is it possible more or less accurately to estimate the 

 amount of erosions and other waste suflPered by an equal area in such a terri- 

 tory as the north of Greenland at the present day. 



In conclusion, any qualified person, with proper assistance and time at his 

 disposal, could undertake the preliminary work on a single glacier ; but to do 

 what is necessary to complete it for such an area as the Alps would probably 

 involve national scientific cooperation. 



