346 The Glacial Theory of Prof. Agassiz. 



manufactured into flour. Very few fields in the southern portion 

 of Ohio escaped this calamity ; while the crops of this grain in 

 the northern part of the state being later in ripening, suffered 

 much less. 



The summer was attended with no tornadoes, or violent gusts 

 of wind, to do any material damage. 



The mean temperature of autumn was 52.80°, which is about 

 2^° warmer -than that of last year. The warmth of this period 

 gave the Indian corn full time to ripen before the appearance of 

 frost, the first of any severity being on the 18th of October. 



Crops of potatoes, beans, and oats, were very good ; that of 

 sweet potatoes was uncommonly fine. Fruit was not abundant, 

 being injured by the frosts of May ; apples were plentiful in some 

 districts, while in others within a few miles, they were an entire 

 failure. Peaches were quite prolific on the hills back from the 

 river, and near the Ohio, also, if located on the top of a high hill. 

 Trees in this situation rarely fail of producing fruit ; and those 

 who set new orchards now, look out for exposures of this kind. 



The amount of rain for this year has bq^n 42yVo inches, which 

 is about the average for this climate. It is 3 j-Y^^ inches greater 

 than that of 1840, and nearly a foot greater than that of 1839, 

 which was an uncommonly dry year. 



A brilliant aurora was observed about the 18th of November, 

 but I did not happen to witness it. 



Marietta, Ohio, January 5, 1842. 



Art. XVI. — The Glacial Theory of Prof. Agassiz; by Charles 



Maclaren.* 



This is perhaps the fittest term to designate the novel opinions of 

 M. Agassiz. Glaciers are properly long narrow masses of ice filling 

 the bottom of Alpine valleys, but M. Agassiz thinks that sheets of ice, 

 such as are met with in Greenland, covered the whole surface of Eu- 

 rope, and all Northern Asia as far as the Caspian Sea. This conclu- 



* This article is republished from a little tract which Mr. Maclaren had the 

 kindness to send us, entitled " The Glacial Theory of Prof Agassiz of Neuchatel, 

 being an outline of facts and arguments adduced by him to prove, that a sheet of 

 ice enveloped the northern parts of the globe at a recent geological epoch ; by 

 Charles Maclaren." As it is the best revievif of the subject which has met our 

 eye, we deem no apology necessary to our readers for republishing it here. — Eds. 



