304 J. Milne — Ice and Ice-ivork in Newfoundland. 



filled with scratched stones like those produced by a modern glacier, 

 are to be faund in many places. These and other appearances, which 

 are peculiar to ice-action, are ascribed to it as their originators ; for, 

 whether they be of Permian or Pleistocene age, their origin would 

 seem to be identical. 



By studying the effects of modern volcanic outbursts, similar 

 paroxysms can be shown to have occurred in bygone ages, — and 

 it is only by having a knowledge of the present, that any true 

 knowledge of the past can be obtained. 



The action of ice upon the surface of the earth has been spoken of 

 in all our Manuals and Text-books of Geology. De la Beche, Lyell, 

 Ramsay, Jukes, Oeikie, and others, all discuss it in its various forms. 



The fact that existing glaciers had once a wide extension was not 

 however observed earlier than 1821, when M. Yenetz advanced the 

 opinion with regard to those of the Alps. In 1836 these ideas were 

 strengthened by the observations of M. Charpentier ; but it w^as not 

 until the distinguished naturalist Agassiz — fresh from the same 

 Alpine school, where so many geological truths have been demon- 

 strated — visited Scotland in 1840, that the curious rock-markings 

 in that country were successfully shown to be identical with those 

 produced by the glaciers of Switzerland. 



Glaciers have been regarded from many points of view, and have 

 been studied both mathematically and physically. Their effects have 

 been noted, and they are now universally admitted to have been 

 great tools in the modelling if not in the actual formation of the 

 surface configuration of the earth. They were first suggested and 

 shown to be a means of solving the puzzles of drift, rounded rocks, 

 strange scratchings, and boulders, and ever since take the precedence 

 of all other ice. 



Their ofi"spring, the Icebergs, have also been studied, and their 

 work has been duly chronicled. The manner in which they bear 

 rocks to warmer seas, and strew them broad-cast.over the bed of the 

 ocean, and even the way in which they may have aided in modelling 

 a rising area, has long been dwelt on; but, being less important 

 tools in Nature's workshop than their parents the Glaciers, de- 

 servedly without such emphasis. There is, however, another form of 

 ice, which, from its unassuming appearance, although touched on by a 

 few, has apparently taken too low a place in the role of actors with 

 which it plays. This is the Coast-ice. 



My first sight of large masses of floating ice was on my arrival at 

 St. John's, Newfoundland, in the spring of 1872. On the morning of 

 the 16th of May, we found ourselves wrapped in a fog, through 

 which a high bold coast was dimly visible. At length it lifted, and 

 we saw ourselves in a cliff-bound bay, at the head of which a narrow 

 entrance showed us a harbour filled with ice and ships. Near us 

 floated two great icebergs, whilst the sea around was covered with 

 smaller lumps jostling against each other as they rose and sank upon 

 the swell. This Arctic scene is depicted as occurring at the same 

 place, but on a grander scale, in the frontispiece of " Frost and 

 Fire," by J. F. Campbell, F.G.S. 



