352 Dr. J. Croll on the Ice of 
Certainly no one has ever seen, and probably no one ever will 
see, elevated land under the ice either of Greenland or the 
Antarctic continent; and to assume its existence because those 
regions are so completely glaciated would simply be to beg 
the very question at issue. 
It will doubtless be urged that, although the ground under 
the ice may not be elevated, yet there may be lofty mountain- 
chains in the interior which might account for the origin of 
the ice. We have, I think, good grounds for concluding that 
if there are mountain-ranges in the interior of Greenland (of 
which there is absolutely no proof, although one or two iso- 
lated peaks have been seen), they must be wholly buried under 
the ice. For if mountain-masses rise above the icy mantle, 
there ought to be evidence of this in the form of broken rock, 
stones, earth, and other moraine matter lying on the inland 
ice. " But as soon as we leave the immediate vicinity of the 
coast," says Dr. Brown, " no moraine is seen coming over the 
inland ice. No living creature, animal or plant, except a 
minute alga." This could not possibly be the case if ranges 
of mountains rose above the general ice-covering. These 
mountain-ranges, if they exist, are doubtless covered with snow 
and their sides with glaciers ; but this would not prevent 
pieces of broken rock and stones from rolling down upon the 
inland ice. In fact it would have the very opposite result ; 
for glaciers would be one of the most effective agents possible 
in bringing down such material, and it is certain that no 
avalanche of snow could take place without carrying along 
with it masses of stones and rubbish. All these materials 
brought down from the sides of the projecting peaks would be 
deposited on the surface of the inland ice and carried along 
with it in its outward motion from the centre of dispersion, 
and could not fail to be observed did they exist. The fact 
that no such thing is ever seen is conclusive proof that these 
supposed projecting mountain- ranges do not exist. 
But it may still be urged that the absence of moraine matter 
on the surface of the inland ice is not sufficient evidence that 
they do not exist; for as this material from the interior would 
have to travel hundreds of miles before reaching the outskirts, 
a journey occupying a period of many years, the stones would 
become buried under the successive layers of ice formed on 
the surface during their passage outwards. But supposing 
this were the case, these buried moraines, if they existed, 
ought to be seen projecting from the edge of the sheet at 
places where icebergs break off, and also on the edge's of the 
icebergs themselves near to their tops ; but such, I presume, 
is never the case. Further, as the inland ice has to force its 
