4 Rcmnrlcs made hi/ Messrs. Medlicott, Blanford, [Ja^n. 



being planed off, as by the friction of a glacier ; and presenting none of 

 those subordinate ridges and spurs which are especially characteristic of 

 drainage denudation. The lake is dammed below by a heap of blocks, some 

 of gigantic size, which appear to be of the same hard limestone as forms 

 the ridge at the head of the valley. Having been only two days in Naini- 

 tal, he had been unable to investigate the question satisfactorily, but his 

 impression was that the lake was closed by a moraine. A leisurely exami- 

 nation of Nainital and the other lakes in the vicinity would be an interest- 

 ing and profitable emjDloyment for a geologist passing a season at one of 

 the Kamaon hill-stations. Nainital is at an elevation of only a little over 

 6000 feet, so that the supposed origin of the lake would fit in well with 

 the facts recorded by previous observers. Glaciers do not now descend even 

 in the Sikkim Himalaya below 14,000 feet, and to bring them down to 4500 

 would imply a reduction in the mean temperature of about 20° Fahrenheit. 

 He was quite unable to accept Mr. Campbell's suggestion that any con- 

 siderable extension of the existing glaciers of the Himalaya could be ac- 

 counted for by an increased supply of vapour, such as would be afforded, 

 were, for instance, the Indus valley covered by the sea. The outer slopes 

 of the SiKkim Himalaya now receive some of the heaviest rainfall in the 

 world, the annual average recorded at Buxa Fort being 240 inches ; yet the 

 glaciers of Sikkim do not reach below 14,000 feet. His own belief was 

 that the former extension of the glaciers could be explained only by a very 

 great depression of the general temperature, possibly a reduction of the 

 sun's heat, since the sun is known to be a variable star of short period, and 

 may be so to a much greater extent, in long periods. But he did not 

 think the evidence pointed to a greater reduction than he had suggested. 



Major Godwin- AusTEisr said — I quite concur in the remarks of Mr. 

 Medlicott on the paper we have just heard read. In Kashmir undoubted 

 traces of glaciers are to be seen, as low as 5000 feet in all the large valleys, 

 in the grooved surfaces of the rocks on the sides of the valleys ; and such 

 glaciers once extended down to the gorges where the larger rivers enter the 

 plain of Kashmir. Even at a lower elevation in the Jhilam valley, below 

 Barahmula, traces of such action are to be seen. 



Very large masses of stone can be carried for long distances by the 

 action of water alone, and I have seen many 10 to 12 feet in length, carried 

 along on the bursting of a small glacial lake. When the Dhaoladhar range 

 was covered with ice and snow, down to within 1000 or 2000 feet of the 

 place where the large blocks alluded to by Mr. Campbell now lie, it is easy 

 to conceive their mode of transport and deposition being due to the proxi- 

 mity of those old Dhaoladhar glaciers. 



Dr. H. Cayley said — The power that floating ice possesses of carrying 

 large blocks of stone long distances from the glaciers whence the ice was 



