1 92 Miscellanies . 



" After having obtained in Switzerland the most conclusive proofs, that 

 at a former period the glaciers were of much greater extent than at the 

 present ; nay, that they had covered the whole country, and had trans- 

 ported the erratic blocks to the places where these are now found, it was 

 my wish to examine a country where glaciers are no longer met with, but 

 in which they might formerly have existed. I therefore directed my at- 

 tention to Scotland, and had scarcely arrived in Glasgow, when I found 

 remote traces of the action of glaciers; and the nearer I approached the 

 high mountain chains, these became more distinct, until, at the foot of 

 Ben Nevis, and in the principal valleys, I discovered the most distinct 

 moraines and polished rocky surfaces, just as in the valleys of the Swiss 

 Alps, in the region of existing glaciers; so that the existence of glaciers 

 in Scotland at early periods can no longer be doubted. The parallel 

 roads of Glenroy, are intimately connected with this former occurrence 

 of glaciers, and have been caused by a glacier from Ben Nevis. The 

 phenomenon must have been precisely analogous to the glacier lakes of 

 the Tyrol, and to the event that took place in the valley of Bagne." 



At one of the early meetings of the Geological Society of London, M. 

 Agassiz read a paper, illustrating his views and their application to Scot- 

 land. This was followed on the 4th of November by a long paper from 

 Dr. Buckland, on the same subject, and which was concluded on the 

 meeting of the 18th, but reserving its more minute details for a subse- 

 quent evening ; while Mr. Lyell has also commenced the reading of a paper 

 " On the Geological evidence of the former existence of glaciers in For- 

 farshire." Dr. Buckland, in his paper, gives a general account of his 

 late tour in Scotland, and among the more remarkable parts of his com- 

 munication is the announcement that the traces of ancient glaciers are 

 apparent in Crickhope Linn, in Nithsdale, Dumfriesshire, upon the rocks 

 of Stirling and Edinburgh castles, and upon Corstorphine, the Calton, 

 and Law Hills, near Edinburgh. This theory, as applied to Scotland, is 

 comparatively new ; and in the animated discussions to which it has just 

 given rise, has been combatced, or strictly scrutinized, by Messrs. Gree- 

 nough, Sedgwick, Murchison, Whewell, Phillips, and De la Beche. We 

 have no doubt that the traces, as stated by the Professor, exist in all the 

 above named localities ; but while such is the case, it becomes most ini- 

 portant to ascertain if these appearances, at so low an elevation, could 

 have been produced by any other action than that of ice. — From Annals 

 and Magazine of Natural History, for Jan. 184L — On this subject, see 

 also a paper in the January number of the same Magazine, " On the Nat- 

 ural Terraces of the Eildon Hills, being formed by the action of Ancient 

 Glaciers," by Mr. Bowman ; from which we extract a single paragraph. 

 " In conclusion. Prof Agassiz informed me that he had traced repeated 

 instances of the various descriptions oi moraines in different parts of Scot- 

 land ; also ill Ireland, and between Sharp and Kendal, in Westmoreland ; 



