REVIEWS—THE OLD GLACIERS OF SWITZERLAND, ETC. 55 
Wales, and such as I only know in regions where glaciers once have 
been. 
“On the hill that rises behind the Hospice, the glacial striations on 
the rocks gradually circle round to the further end of the lake, follow- 
ing the sweep of the valley ; and it soon becomes apparent that this 
hill itself, is but a gigantic roche moutonnée, mammilated and striated 
all over, on which erratic blocks were left by the decrease of the glacier 
of the Aar after a period in which it rose so high, that it not only filled 
the hollow of the lake, and pressed upward over the ridgy barrier at 
its further end, but actually overflowed the entire hill. If from its 
polished side you survey the opposite ridge of the Aar valley, the vast 
size of the old glacier becomes still more strongly impressed upon the 
mind. A great wall of rock rises sharply above the river course, and 
on its side the striations which cover it, have been deflected upwards, 
at a low angle, the effect of the intense jamming to which the thick 
ice was subjected in its downward course, when obstructed by the great 
roche moutonnée that rises in the middle of the valley between the lake 
and the mountains on the opposite side of the Aar. Above this wall, 
the mountain is moutonnée almost to the very summit, where at length 
the serrated peaks of the highest ridge rise sharply above the ice-worn 
surfaces. The valley has been filled with ice almost to the very brim.”’ 
After thus discussing in their past and present bearings, the glacial 
phenomena of these Swiss valleys, our author turns to the valleys of 
Czenarvonshire that lie around the majestic Snowden, and traces out, 
in these, step by step, the former existence of immense glaciers, whose 
dimensions rivalled in grandeur the great ice-rivers of the ancient Alps. 
He then considers the question of identity of time with respect to the 
extinct glacial phenomena of Wales and the ancient extension of the 
Alpine glaciers. ‘“‘ But these things being true, [the former existence, 
&e., of glaciers in the valleys around Snowden], what relation in time 
is there between the old glaciers of Switzerland and those of Wales? 
_ The elements from which to attempt a solution of this question are 
few. First, it may be said that the signs of glaciation in the former 
extension of still existing Swiss glaciers, are not only identical in all 
respects with those of the extinct glaciers of Wales, but also that in 
many an Alpine valley all the ice marks remain, even when no dimin- 
ished glacier still holds its place amid its uppermost recesses. These 
in all respects may be compared to the ancient glaciers of the neigh- 
bouring Jura, the Vosges, or of Wales. Again, when we consider that 
