322 JDurjald Bell— Notes on Glen Roy. 





but slowly " (p. 98). Nothing can be made of this without further 

 particulars. — Once more, in noticing the difficulty that " no marine 

 organism has been detected among the materials of the roads," Dr. 

 Bonney gives the answer, without any indication of its insufficiency, 

 that the objection " might be urged with equal force in regard to 

 many of the terraces in Scotland . . . the marine origin of which 

 is not disputed " (p. 99). For the third time, we wonder what 

 terraces are referred to. We know of none admitted to be marine, 

 though destitute of marine remains. And though this were so, we 

 presume that laxity of inference in one case cannot be cited as 

 justifying similar laxity in another. 



The " sea-marks " in Norway are more than once alluded to by Dr. 

 Bonney ; but it is not asserted that they even approximately coincide 

 with the terraces in Glen Koy ; in reality, the highest of them is 

 much lower than the lowest in that glen, and they are quite different 

 in position and other essential respects, so that it is not apparent how 

 they help the case. Why do not the Glen Boy terraces, if marine, 

 extend along the present coast like those in Norway ? Next, " the 

 coast of Peru " is mentioned — a " far cry," indeed, froni Lochaber ! — 

 and, finally, after this circuit, Moel Tryfaen, Gloppa, and " other 

 localities," which, as Dr. Bonney is doubtless well aware, are all '"in. 

 dispute " at present, and some of which, including Moel Tryfaen, 

 are being largely given up as proofs of submergence. 1 



Coming to other difficulties which have been urged against the 

 " marine theory," Dr. Bonney continues to indicate the " replies," 

 in all cases, as if perfectly sound and satisfactory. Thus, " if these 

 beaches have been formed by the sea, it is difficult to understand 

 why they do not occur more generally" — [or rather, why they 

 do not occur at all] — "in the neighbouring valleys, and in other 

 parts of Scotland." This is a difficulty which Lyell thought had 

 never been got over. But Dr. Bonney calmly continues : " To 

 this it is answered, that there is a beach in Glen Gluoy, and some 

 traces are found, though at different levels, in Glen Spean and else- 

 where" I 2 We turn to our fellow-occupants of "the box," to see 

 what they think of this answer. It seems to us that the beach in 

 Glen Gluoy, instead of lightening the difficulty, immensely increases 

 it. That beach does not correspond with any of the terraces in 

 Glen Boy, as it should certainly do, had both glens been alike 

 occupied by the sea ; it is higher than any of them. Why is this 

 so ? Why did not the sea form as high a line in Glen Boy as in 

 Glen Gluoy, and as many lines in the one glen as in the other ? 

 Nor is anything gained by referring to terraces " at different levels " 

 in Glen Spean ; these are all part of the very phenomena under 

 discussion, and are explained by one of the parties in the case as 

 due to the same local cause. What is wanted are similar beach- 

 lines at similar levels in many other glens of Scotland, which the 

 sea, if it ever stood at that height, must have formed. Where are 

 they ? Dr. Bonney says they are " elsewhere " ! 



1 See Dr. J. Geilde's " Great Ice-Age," 3rd ed., p. 371. 



2 "Ice -Work," p. 98. (Italics ours.) 



