ANCIENT GLACIERS IN EASTERN HEMISPHERE. 175 



necessary as a preliminary to show that the movement of 

 subsidence and re-elevation was so rapid, and the interval 

 between so brief, that no time was allowed for any marine 

 erosion to take place. If this were so, it would be the most 

 stupendous catastrophe of which we have any geological 

 record ; but we are not left in doubt regarding the duration 

 of the submerged condition, for the occurrence of forty feet 

 of gravel upon the summits of the hills indicates plainly 

 that, if they were accumulated by the sea, the land must 

 have stood at that level for a very long period, amply suffi- 

 cient for the formation of a well-marked coast-line. 



" The alternative proposition, that post-glacial denuda- 

 tion had removed the traces of subsidence, is equally at 

 variance with the evidence. Post-glacial denudation has 

 left kames and drumlins, and all the other forms of glacial 

 deposits, in almost perfect integrity ; the small kettle-holes 

 are not yet filled up ; and it is therefore quite out of the 

 question that the far more enduring features, such as sea- 

 cliffs, shore platforms, and beaches, should have been de- 

 stroyed. 



" The only reasonable conclusion is, that these evidences 

 of marine action never existed, because the land in glacial 

 times was never depressed below its present level. If the 

 level were different at all (as I think may have been the 

 case on the western side of England), it was higher, and 

 not lower. 



" The details of the submergence hypothesis have, so far 

 as I am aware, never been dealt with by its advocates, oth- 

 erwise I cannot but think that it would have been aban- 

 doned long since. It has been stated in general terms that 

 the subsidence was greatest in the north and diminished 

 to zero in the south, but no attempt was made to trace the 

 evidence of extreme subsidence across country and along 

 the principal hill-ranges — in fact, to see how it varied in 

 every direction. 



" If we take a traverse of England, say from Flam- 



