THE 



GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. 



NEW SERIES. DECADE IV. VOL. Vli. 



No. VII. — JULY, 1900. 



OI?,I<3-IIsrJLXj -A-I^TICXjES. 



I. — Colonel Feilden's Conthibutions to Glacial Geology. 

 By Professor T. G. Boxnbt, D.Sc, LL.D., F.R.S. 



IN 1877 and tlie following year Colonel H. W. Feilden published 

 the results of his scientific investigations on the coasts of Smith 

 Sound and the channel to the north.' In 1896 he made contri- 

 butions to the geology of Kolguev, Waigats, and Novaya Zemlya in 

 two other papers.- These are reprinted, together with one previously 

 unpublished, in the appendix to Mr. H. J. Pearson's book, " Beyond 

 Petsora Eastward " (1899). As the earlier work appears to have 

 been forgotten by some writers upon glacial subjects, and the last- 

 named might very easily escape their notice, I urged Colonel Feilden 

 to give a summary of his chief results in some generally accessible 

 periodical. Shortly afterwards, on being unexpectedly called away 

 for service in Sout]^ Africa, he requested me to undertake the task. 

 For the sake of brevity, I restrict myself mainly to the investigations 

 which throw light on the formation of Boulder-clay and its associated 

 sands and gravels, because these establish two points : (1) that such 

 deposits are sometimes formed beneath the sea ; (2) that the land in 

 these Arctic regions has been elevated, in places not less than 

 a thousand feet, since either some time in or the close of the Glacial 

 epoch. I draw especial attention to these points, because I have 

 noticed in certain writings a tendency to take it for granted that 

 Boulder-clays can only be the leavings of an ice-sheet upon the land, 

 and to treat the idea of any such important change of level as an hypo- 

 thesis so improbable as to be practically impossible. Hence I shall 

 pass over sundry important observations which show that projecting 

 rocks can be scratched, polished, and even rounded by the action of 

 floating ice, and shall not enter upon " the literature of the subject," 

 for it is of Colonel Feilden's work alone that I am concerned to give 

 a summary. So, after remarking that he more than once calls 

 attention to the amount of debris seen on floating ice,' I proceed to 

 the observations bearing on these two points, not, however, arranging 

 them under the separate heads, but giving them in geographical 

 order. 



1 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. iv, vol. xx (1877), p. 489 ; Quart. Jouin. 

 Geol. Soc, vol. xxxiv (1878), p. 556. See also Nares' " Voyage to Polar Sea." 

 . 2 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. Hi (1896), pp. 52, 721. 



3 " Beyond Petsora," pp. 250, 269, 270. 



DECADE lY. VOL. VII. NO. VII. 19 



