XXXIV PROCEEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



transporting huge blocks of stone, and in depositing vast mounds of 

 rubbish, are illustrated by him from many an Alpine valley. Re- 

 calling the original observations of Playfair, he points out how clear 

 is the evidence for the former wide extension of the glaciers of 

 Switzerland. In short, his eye seems ever to have been upon the 

 watch for every phenomenon bearing upon the mutations of the 

 existing surface of the land. 



The lessons which he had thus laboriously learned among the 

 living ice -rivers of the Alps bore fruit when he came again to 

 wander among the more mountainous regions of his own country. 

 In the year 1840 Agassiz had made the startling announcement that 

 the British islands had once been deeply buried under a vast mantle 

 of snow and ice, and that the traces of its seaward motion were yet 

 fresh and clear upon the sides of many valleys among the uplands. 

 PoUowing up the observations of the Swiss naturalist, Buckland and 

 Lyell had pointed out the former existence of glaciers in the High- 

 lands and other parts of the country. When, however, we look back 

 upon the early discussion of this subject, we are forced to admit that 

 conclusions were often based upon very hasty and imperfect observa- 

 tions. In particular, glacier moraines were often recognized in 

 places where no geologist would now be able to find them. Much 

 as Forbes knew of the geological effects of ice, his natural caution 

 kept him from taking part in this discussion for a time, until he was 

 able to produce more accurately determined data than had, in many 

 cases at least, been available. In the year 1845 he visited the Isle 

 of Skye; and his eye, already trained to recognize the traces of 

 vanished glaciers in Switzerland, was at once struck by the identity 

 of the forms assumed by the rocks at Loch Scavaig with the roches 

 moutonnees of the Alps. Further investigation led him to obtain 

 complete demonstration of the former presence of a group of glaciers 

 descending from the rugged scarps of the Cuchullin Hills. He 

 walked over mountain and glen, filling in a rough sketch map of the 

 glacier valleys as he went along, and in December of the same year 

 he read a narrative of his observations to the Royal Society of 

 Edinburgh. This was the most detailed and satisfactory account 

 which had yet been given of the proofs that the Highlands of Britain 

 once nourished groups of glaciers. 



In the year 1851 Professor Forbes undertook a journey to Nor- 

 way, partly to make observations of the great solar eclipse, and 

 partly drawn by his love of physical geography, and notably of 

 glaciers. It was his design to compare the phenomena of glaciers 

 in Northern Europe with those already so familiar to him in Swit- 

 zerland. This he has done in a masterly way. His pages contain, 

 in a clear and succinct form, the sum of all that was known at the 

 time regarding the snow-line and the existing glaciers of IS orway. 

 I have myself gone over much of the ground he has described, and 

 can bear witness to the accuracy of his sketches, alike of pencil and 

 of pen.. His two chapters on the physical geography of Norway have 

 always appeared to me to bo a masterpiece of careful yet rapid obser- 

 vation, broad generalization, and clear description. 



