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enormous depth filling these highest Alpine valleys, and descending 
in opposite directions from the narrow crest that lies between them. 
In the upper part of the valley of the Viesch, is a glacier, beneath 
which runs a rapid torrent, co-extensive in length with the great 
current, to which the above hypothesis would attribute the polish 
and scratches on the rocks of the valley. This small torrent 
corrodes the bottom of the valley into sinuous furrows and irregular 
holes, and polishes the sides of its bed ; but the polish is of a different 
aspect from that produced by the action of the ice, and of the stones 
and sand which it carries with it. ‘The polished surfaces beneath 
the ice are often salient and in high relief. The sides also of the 
valleys adjacent to the actual glaciers are frequently polished and 
scratched at great heights above the ice, im a manner identical with 
the surface beneath it, but different from the polish of the bed of 
the torrent. 
The amount of polish and scratches varies with the nature of 
the rocks. In the valley of Zermatt and Riffelhorn, rocks of ser- 
pentine are most exquisitely polished; so also are the granites on 
the sides of the glacier of the Aar, where they have not been long 
exposed to the action of the air. Gneiss and limestone do not pre- 
serve their polish under similar exposure, but retain it while they are 
protected by ice or a covering of earth. 
These facts seem to show, that the striated and polished condition 
of rocks beneath and on the sides of glaciers, is due to the action of 
the ice, and of the sand and fragments of stone forming the mo- 
raines which accompany it. 
7. On a bed of lignite near Messina, by Dr. R. Calvert. 
About thirty years ago, Dr. Calvert discovered a bed of lignite, a 
quarter of a mile from Messina, up a Fiumera to the left of Fort 
Gonzago. It cropped out to the north at an angle of about 45°, 
and was at least a yard in thickness. The lignite was swept down 
a precipice by the country people to make room for sticks to burn 
lime with; a superb quarry of which was then worked on the oppo- 
site side of the field. Dr. Calvert laid in a winter stock of the lig- 
nite; the dragoons used it in their forge, and the commander of the 
forces in his kitchen. Owing, however, to the unskilfulness of the 
people who dug the lignite (soldiers and officers’ servants), the roof 
fell in, and the property above being injured, the excavations were 
stopped. Some of the lignite emitted a bad effluvia when burned. 
8. A letter from Richard Greaves, Esq., addressed to Dr. Buck- 
land, and dated June the 6th, 1840, on the discovery of bones of 
birds, fishes, and mammalia, in the limestone cliff at Eel Point in 
Caldy Island, and about eighty feet above the sea. 
9. A note from Mr. Hamilton, Sec. G.S., addressed to Dr. Buck- 
‘land, on the irregular occurrence of rounded fragments of rock 
crystal, throughout the Hastings sands, in the neighbourhood of 
Tunbridge Wells. Mr. Hamilton’s principal object is to call atten- 
