THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 91 



g-ists. Dr. Newberry states as follows : "All our Great Lakes 

 are probably very ancient, as since the close of the Devonian 

 period the area they occupy has never been submerged beneath 

 the ocean." 



"That they have been filled with ice, and that ice formed 

 great moving g^laciers we may consider proved." 



"The West End of Lake Erie may be said to be carved 

 out of corniferous limestone by ice action as its bottom, and 

 sides and islands — horizontal, vertical, and even overhanging 

 surfaces — are all furrowed by glacial grooves, which are par- 

 allel with the major axis of the Lake." 



"This, at least, may be positively asserted in regard to the 

 agency of ice in the excavation of the lake basins, that their 

 bottom and sides wherever exposed to observation, if com- 

 posed of 'resistant materials,' bear indisputable evidence of ice 

 action, proving- that these basins were filled by moving glaciers 

 in the last Ice period, if never before, and that part at least of 

 the erosion by which they were formed is due to these gla- 

 ciers." I underscore this paragraph in Dr. Newberry's Report 

 Geological Survev of Ohio, because it expresses the same 

 view as I held when my Regiment (the Bedfordshires) was en- 

 camped at Fort Erie during the Fenian troubles in 1866. I 

 think I remarked two sets of striee near the exit of the Lake, 

 shallow scratches and polishing along its axis, and deeper 

 grooving in the direction corresponding nearly with one 

 Barton local chert striae. The latter I attributed to the Great 

 Continental Glacier. When this arrived at the boundary, or 

 walls, of the pre-glacial valley, a portion was deflected proba- 

 bly. The Lake put forth then, pursued the course where little 

 resistance was encountered, filling the valleys of Erie and On- 

 tario and pushing on before it many of the fragmentary rocks 

 of "The Hudson River Series," combed out of the North 

 Shore near Toronto. These water-worn shales, pebbles, re- 

 arranged subsequently on the shore of the ancient Lake Beach 

 (Irrequois), formed its western boundary. In a former Paper 

 published in our Proceedings I pointed out some of the recent 



