MISCELLANEA. 183 



of the north of England, of a very fine grain ; and so far as this 

 goes, we might assume that its original locality was not very far 

 off from where it now is. Even if this were so, however, the 

 question of the means of its removal would still remain to be 

 considered. But taking into account the scratches and marks of 

 grinding on the sides of the block, we are driven to infer that it 

 must have been brought from a considerable distance, passing in 

 its journey, while imbedded in ice, through ravines with walls 

 and floors of harder kinds of rock, and grinding and scraping 

 against them. 



The history of the block then may have been as follows : We 

 need not go back to the time when the grains of sand were in a 

 loose and uncompacted state. We may take its history up when 

 it formed, as it no doubt once did, part of an ordinary stratum of 

 freestone, forming probably the upper part of the walls of a ra- 

 vine. It would become detached by alternate rains and frosts, 

 and roll down into the ravine, where it would get covered with 

 snow, which would partially thaw and then freeze again, until 

 the stone became covered and firmly imbedded in ice. This ice 

 would increase in thickness and form in time a glacier, which 

 would in the usual way be forced forward slowly but surely by 

 the accumulation of ice in the upper part of the head of the ra- 

 vine. The ice would still hold in its grasp our hero of a block, 

 and many others beside, grinding it against the rocky ravine 

 floor and walls in its progress, until the glacier reached the 

 waters of a then-existing sea, and entering it for a short distance, 

 the buoyant, power of the water would "snap off" the end of the 

 glacier which would then become an iceberg, free to float and 

 wander about on the ocean at ''its own sweet will," or rather at 

 the mercy of the winds and currents, until another process set 

 in, namely, the melting of the ice by the greater warmth of the 

 water. This would set free our block and its companions, and 

 they would drop plumb' down on to the ocean bed, and remain 

 there until some other force again should shift them. 



In this way I account for the present position of this block of 

 stone in Lunedale. It seems to agree with the opinion well 

 known and frequently expressed that all our hills and dales. 



