TLANT-BEARING SEEIES OF INDIA. 531 



with the Lower Permian breccias of Great Britain, which, as far as 

 palseontoiogical evidence goes, occupy somewhat the same position 

 in the general geological sequence ? This is so difficult a question 

 in the present state of our knowledge of terrestrial and cosmical 

 physics, that it is only with much diffidence that I venture to put 

 forward the following considerations, in which, since my argument 

 turns on the sum of probabilities, I must perforce have recourse to 

 such facts as may be furnished by that later glacial period, the evi- 

 dence of which is more complete than of that of Permian times. 



It is now well known that evidence of greatly extended glacial 

 conditions in the latest Tertiary times is not restricted to Europe, 

 nor even to the temperate zone. In Syria Dr. Hooker has shown 

 that glaciers formerly existed in Lebanon*; in the Sikkim Himalaya 

 Mr. W. T. Blanford has adduced proofs of their existence down to a 

 level of 6000 feetf, and Mr. H. B. Medlicott+ and Mr. Theobald§ 

 in the Kangra valley, of the Western Himalaya, down to 3000 feet 

 (or, according to Mr. Theobald, 2000 feet) above sea-level. Quite 

 recently Major Godwin-Austen, whose experience in the lofty moun- 

 tains of Northern Kashmir has certainly familiarized him with the 

 effects of glacial action, has observed moraines in the ISTaga Hills of 

 Eastern Bengal down to a level of 4500 feet above the sea. This, 

 be it remembered, is in latitude 26° ; and the hills which produced 

 these glaciers do not exceed 10,000 feet in height. 



Mr. Medlicott|| and, subsequently, Mr. Theobald i[ have suggested 

 that the Himalayan chain has undergone great subsidence, accord- 

 ing to the latter writer to an extent of 12,000 or 15,000 feet; and 

 Mr. Theobald appears to consider that an additional elevation to this 

 extent would suffice to produce glaciers that would " from the 

 magnitude of their drainage-area " descend to 1500 feet above sea- 

 level. Mr. Theobald further considers that the great glaciers, the 

 effects of which he describes (including one in the Sutlej valley 

 350 miles long), were antecedent to the formation of the Sivalik 

 [Miocene ?] group. The whole discussion is too long to be quoted 

 here ; and I must therefore refer readers to the original papers in 

 the publications of the Geological Survey of India. I can only say 

 that I have failed to be convinced, and that it does not appear to 

 me that any evidence has been advanced to show that the great 

 extension of the glaciers (which I admit) was pre-Sivalik. With 

 regard to the sufficiency of great elevation to produce that extension, 

 I am equally unable to coincide with Mr. Theobald. The Himalaya 

 even now dries the winds pretty effectually up to a height of 20,000 

 feet, and the residual vapour between 20,000 and 35,000 feet, even 

 supposing it to be brought in the same volume as at present, would 

 hardly be such as to produce a glacier in the Sutlej valley 350 miles 



* Nat.-Hist. Review, vol. ii. p. 12. 



t Journ. As. Soc. Beng. vol. xl. pp. 379, 393. They may have extended lower ; 

 but the excessive rainfall of the southern slopes of the Sikkim Himalaya and the 

 chemical disintegration of the rocks are very unfavourable to the preservation 

 of glacier-markings and moraines. 



\ Mem. G. S. I. vol. iii. art. 4, p. 155. § Rec. G. S. I. vol. vii. p. 87. 



i| Mem. G. S. I. vol. iii. art. 4, p. 170. f Eec. G. S. I. vol. vii. p. 97. 



