Geological Progress. 3 



getic opponent in the President of the Geological Society, Mr. W. J. 

 Hamilton, who, in his Anniversary Address,' discussed adversely 

 the views lately promulgated by his predecessor, Professor Eamsay, 

 from the same chair. 



Professor Phillips^ has also expressed his views and observations 

 upon Ice-action, and the height to which it is possible for Glaciers 

 to ascend by the continuous pressure of the mass above. But his 

 examination of Wastwater, in Cumberland, led him to the conclusion 

 that Ice would not have been effective in excavating its basin . 



The eminent Swiss Geologist, M. Desor, in his recently published 

 work, " Der Gebirgsbau der Alpen," adds the weight of his name to 

 the adverse party. He divides lake-basins into three classes, namely : 



1, lakes situated in depressions between mountains, at right-angles 

 to their general direction — to which class belong the Italian lakes ; 



2, lakes in the plain or on the borders of mountains, whose basins 

 have been excavated by water ; and 3, moraine-lakes, whose waters 

 are dammed up at their outlet, as the Brienzer-See. 



Every thoughtful geologist must admit that Seas and Elvers, Frost 

 and Snow, Eain and Ice, have all shared in the labour of fashioning 

 the present surface of our earth — nay, more, are doing so to-day — 

 each performing its own portion of the task, and leaving (as Mr. J. F. 

 CampbelPhas admirably shown) its "tool-marks" to testify to the 

 engine used. 



Again, though many metamorphic rocks, formerly attributed to 

 Igneous origin, are now known to- be in reality sedimentary deposits, 

 crushed and altered by pressure, beneath superincumbent strata of 

 more recent date; we have still left, in all parts of the world, 

 evidences of upheaval by volcanic action, accompanied by deposits of 

 truly erupted or intruded material, the nature of which cannot be 

 explained by shrinkage of the mass, or crumplings of the crust by 

 lateral pressure, though each of these causes has produced its effect. 

 Volcanic outlets like the Sumatran and Javan range, which comprise 

 no less than 109 lofty fire-emitting mountains,* or like that of Cen- 

 tral America (lately visited by Professor K. von Seebach, of Got- 

 tingen, who examined upwards of 30 craters, nearly all of which 

 were active) are slight surface-indications of what must be the. 

 pressure, and consequently the heat, at great depth beneath the 

 crust of our globe. 



We trust that physical geologists will this year agree to divide 

 the burden of work more equitably between Seas, Elvers, and Ice, 

 Fire and Eain, Frost and Snow, taking into careful consider- 

 ation the relative powers of each agent (as seen at work to-day) 

 in having produced like results, but on a larger scale perhaps, in 

 the past. 



(To 6e continued.) 



1 Quart. Joum. Geol. Soc. vol. xxi. p. Ixxxvii., Anniversary Address. 



* Geol. Mag., vol. ii. p. 513. 



" Frost and Fire, etc. By a Traveller. Edinburgh : Edmonston and Douglas. 

 1865. 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 1015, and 117 illustrations. 



* Scrope on Volcanoes, 2nd edition, 1862, p. 12. 



