Obituary — Thomas Francis Jamieson. 333 



In 1863 Ms great paper on the " Parallel Roads of Glen Roy " was 

 published, and therein he showed that they are beaches of freshwater 

 lakes, which originated from glaciers damming the mouths of valleys 

 and reversing their drainage. The date of the lakes he regarded 

 as posterior to the great land-glaciation of Scotland. 



As remarked by Lyell {Antiquity of Man, 4th ed., p. 305), 

 Mr. Jamieson " observed many facts highly confirmatory of the theory 

 of glacier-lakes", which had been previously suggested by Agassiz 

 and Buckland, and " showed that this theory affords a complete 

 explanation of all the most striking peculiarities "} 



In 1891 he published " Supplementary Remarks on Glen Roy", 

 dealing with subsequent explanations and further supporting his 

 original views. 



In 1865 he read an important paper on the "History of the Last 

 Geological Changes in Scotland". In this he referi'ed to evidence of 

 the Mammoth having inhabited Scotland before the Glacial period. 

 He noted the enormous thickness of the laTid-ice, Schiehallion 

 (3,500 feet high) being glaciated near to the top as well as on its 

 flanks. He considered that the ice was developed as a thick cake and 

 flowed off "not so much on account of the inclination of the bed on 

 which it rested ", but "in the waj^ that a heap of grain flows off when 

 poured down on the floor of a granary . . . given a floor of infinite 

 extension, and a pile of grain of sufficient amount, the mass would 

 move outward to any distance". He concluded that "the wa.it 

 of much inclination in the surface of a country, and the absence 

 of great Alpine heights, are therefore objections of no moment to the 

 movement of Jand-ice, provided we have snow enough^\ 



He further noted how the Boulder-clay varies in colour and 

 character according to the rocks from which it was derived, and he 

 expressed his opinion that certain kaims (or kames) may have been 

 formed by the ridging-up of gravel in front of a glacier. 



Finally, he discussed the introduction of the plants and animals 

 into the British Isles since the Glacial period, admitting that "ice 

 might have formed a bridge to some, but not to the greater part ". 

 This paper contains a long list of Glacial shells. 



In 1866 he described the "Glacial Phenomena of Caithness ", and 

 in 1874 he dealt with the " Last Stage of the Glacial Period in North 

 Britain", discussing the formation of kaims and eskers, and advocating 

 the development of a second ice-sheet, but not so thick nor so 

 extensive as that in the earlier glaciation. In 1882 he read a paper 

 on the " Red Clay of Aberdeenshire ", considering that it was laid 

 down before the last advance of the glaciers. 



We need only further mention that Mr. Jamieson on two occasions 

 entered other geological fields, writing in 1861 on the " Structure of 

 the South- West Highlands of Scotland (parts of Bute, Cowal, and 

 Jura) ", and in 1871 on the " Older Metamorphic Rocks and Granite 

 of Banffshire", when he advocated the metamorphic origin of the 

 granite, and was supported by Ramsay.^ H. B. W. 



' See also E. B. Bailey, Proc. Geol. Assoc, xxii, 203, 1911. 

 * Seventeen papers, from 1865 to 1908, are credited to Mr. T. F. Jamieson 

 in the GEOLOGiCAii Magazine. — Ed. 



