Apparent objections to the Glacial Theory. 303 



of the valley altogether militates against his views, and proves them 

 to be erroneous. " It is impossible," says this eminent geologist 

 " to explain satisfactorily the dispersion of the well-known Snap 

 granite boulders, in the valleys which lead down from the Fell 

 northwards, southwards, and easterly, by a great diluvial cur- 

 rent, and still more so, their transport from the valley of the 

 Eden over the lofty summits of Stainmore Forest into the valley of 

 the Tees. The glacier theory, he states, offers on the contrary a 

 solution of the difficulties. A glacier descending to the north 

 from Shap Fell, would convey the blocks to the village of Shap, 

 and distribute them throughout the intervening space; another 

 glacier ranging to the south would deposit the boulders on the hills 

 and in the valleys descending by Highborrow Bridge to Kendal; 

 whilst a third glacier proceeding eastwards betwixt Crosby, Ravens- 

 worth and Orton, would traverse transversely the upper part of the 

 valley of the Eden near Brough, and accumulate piles of ice against 

 the opposite escarpment, until they overtopped its lowest depres- 

 sions in Stainmore Forest, and disgorged their moraines into the 

 valleys of the Greta and the Tees." — Edin. New Phil. Jour. No. 

 59, p 205. 



It may not perhaps be very difficult to show, by the aid of 

 Greenough's beautiful geological map, that it is more probable 

 that water was the agent which produced the above described 

 effects, than glaciers, which latter I trust I have shewn, could not 

 have existed in our island without a far colder climate than the 

 facts of geology authorise us to believe has ever occurred. The 

 difficulty which Dr. Buckland cannot remove, seems to consist al- 

 most entirely in the various directions which the boulders have 

 pursued from a given point, namely, Shap Fells. Now as it is 

 not contended that the valleys leading down from the Fell have 

 been scooped out by the action of glaciers, we are left at liberty to 

 conclude, that they had origin before the supposed glaciers which 

 slid through them. The elevation of the Fells, and the existence 

 of valleys leading in various directions from them, prove, that an 

 upheavement has taken place which not only gave rise to the 

 heights, but likewise produced the troughs or valleys between the 

 uprising masses. If at the period of this movement the land was 



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