1845.] Diluvial and Wave Translation Theories. 219 



boulder deposit to have been produced by a deluge, or great oceanic 

 wave from the north. These parallel furrows were supposed to have 

 been caused by the passage of gravel propelled by this great current, 

 and hence called " diluvial schrammen." 



Botlingk, however, has observed that some of these Scandinavine 

 furrows have centres of dispersion (like those formed by modern gla- 

 ciers on the Alps,) conformable to the major axis or longitudinal di- 

 rection of each valley. In the south of Sweden, he says, the striae in- 

 cline southerly ; but on the east of Lapland northerly to the Icy ocean ; 

 he states, the general direction of the striae on the summits of Scandi- 

 navia to be from N. W. to S. E. Those also in North America ob- 

 served by Professor Hitchcock, have a similar direction. 



M. Agassiz repudiates this diluvial theory as applicable to the 

 drift and parallel furrows on the rocks of England and Scotland, 

 which he states to diverge every where from the central chains of the 

 country, following the course of the vallies ; and that the distribution 

 of the blocks and gravel follows similar directions, each district often 

 having its peculiar debris traceable in many instances to its parent 

 rock at the head of the valley. Hence, he infers, the cause of the trans- 

 port must be sought for in the centre of the mountain ranges, and 

 not from a point without the district. The Scandinavian blocks in 

 the drift of England, he confesses, may have been transported on float- 

 ing ice. 



M. Agassiz does not deny the power of water to produce the fur- 

 rows, and polishing of rocks in situ ; but states he has not been able 

 to find them on the borders of rivers, lakes, and on sea coasts ; that 

 the effects produced by water are sinuous furrows proportioned to the 

 hardness of rocks ; not even, uniform, polished surfaces, such as those 

 presented by rocks acted upon by glaciers having both loose gravel 

 under them, and pebbles and pieces of rock firmly set in their lower 

 surface like teeth in a file, and which are independent of the compo- 

 sition of the stone: for, he states, wherever the moveable materials, 

 which are pressed by the ice on rocks in situ, are hardest, there occur 

 independent of the polish, striae more or less parallel in the general 

 direction of the movement of the glaciers. Thus, in the neighbourhood 

 of glaciers, are found those polished round bosses which Saussure dis- 

 tinguishes by the name of c roches moulonnes.' The most striking fea- 



2 i 



