Report of Meetings. By the President. 441 



marks in the valley of the Tweed, which, with its plans and 

 diagrams, should, if possible, be studied by all who wish to un- 

 derstand the subject. In proof of the numbers of these Kaims 

 in Berwickshire, and of the popular interest excited by them, the 

 author has pointed out that several farms and estates were 

 named after them, from one of which. Lord Kaims, celebrated 

 as a Scotch lawyer of last century, took his title. 



Typical examples of convenient access may be observed near 

 Lucker Station on the North Eastern Eailway, as about a mile 

 from it the Bamburgh road cuts through the chief of a set of 

 famous ridges called "The Bradford Kaims"; and at Wark, 

 where a Kaim extends for more than three quarters of a mile 

 between the road and the Tweed, near the Castle, on the 

 Northumberland side ; in both instances, excavations revealing 

 the nature of the interior may be seen. 



The word Kaim, Scotch for Comb, is said by Jamieson in his 

 Dictionary, to denote the crest of a hill, or those pinnacles 

 which resemble a cock's comb. 



An examination of the contents of one of these detrital ridges, 

 for such they are, show that they consist of stones of all sorts, and 

 sard. Both inside and out, at first sight, they bear a great 

 resemblance to Moraine-heaps, or the accumulation of rubbish 

 left by the movements of glaciers ; besides which, they are often 

 associated (as at Bradford and North Charlton), with the boulder- 

 clay, and sometimes contain a few glaciated stones. Moraines, in 

 fact, they were supposed to be ; but that opinion is no longer held. 

 If we examine the contents of an undoubted moraine-heap— any of 

 those, for instance in the Highlands, which in parts are so abund- 

 ant — we find that the stones of which they are composed are sharply 

 angular, or sub-angular ; while we may easily satisfy ourselves 

 that the stones of a Kaim are rounded and water-worn more or less. 

 Besides which, the evidences of stratification are often very 

 distinct, and in some, the fact of marine origin seems to be 

 rendered certain by the presence of marine shells. 



" He will be a lucky observer," wrote Professor Archibald 

 Geikie in 1865, "who succeeds in harmonizing the difficulties 

 and presenting a satisfactory explanation of these remarkable 

 ridges." 



The explanation which I believe to be now generally ac- 

 cepted, is, that both ice and water have contributed to 

 their formation. They are supposed to be made up of water- 



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