Miscellanies. 191 



agine currents of enormous depth filling these highest Apine valleys, and 

 descending in opposite directions from the narrow crest tliat lies between 

 them. In the upper part of the valley of the Viesch, is a glacier, beneath 

 which runs a rapid torrent, coextensive 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 fur- 

 rows 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 be- 

 neath the ice are often salient and in high relief. The sides also of the 

 valleys adjacent to the actual glaciers, are frequently polished and scratch- 

 ed at great heights above the ice, in 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 Zermalt and Riffelhorn, rocks of serpentine are most ex- 

 quisitely 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 preserve 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 moraines which ac- 

 company it. — Extracted from the Annals and Magazine of Natural His- 

 tory , for January, 1841. 



2. The former existence of Glaciers in Scotland. — The late visit of M. 

 Agassiz to Scotland, during the meeting of the British Association, seems 

 to have set all our geologists off upon a new scent, — glacier hunting. 

 That distinguished zoologist and geologist, by his interesting work and 

 illustrations on the glaciers of Switzerland,* has, we think, proved that 

 they formerly existed at a much lower level than they do now on the Alps 

 of the continent, and anxiety to examine a country where glaciers no lon- 

 ger existed, was the immediate motive of his visit to Scotland during the 

 last autumn. In company with accomplished English and Scotch geolo- 

 gists, the examination was accordingly made, and the same appearances 

 which characterize the rocks under the European glaciers being observed 

 in various parts of the higher mountain ranges of Scotland, induced M. 

 Agassiz to believe that they formerly existed in these mist-clad regions, 

 and that many of the phenomena attributed to the action of water, such 

 as the parallel roads of Glenroy, &-c., were caused by their influence ; and 

 he writes thus on the subject to Prof Jamieson : 



* Etudes sur les Glaciers, par L. Agassiz, dessinees d'apr^s Nature et Litho- 

 graphies, par J. Bettannier, 1840, Neuchatel. 



