— II — 



In 1 8 1 5, Charpentier, the Director of the Salt Works at Bex, 

 and one of the most distinguished geologists of Switzerland, pass- 

 ing a night in the cottage of a mountaineer in the hamlet of 

 Lourtier, was told by his host that he believed that theglacieis had 

 formerly a much greater extent than at present, because, as he 

 said, "I find huge boulders of Alpine granite perched on the 

 sides of the valleys, where they could only have been left by ice." 

 This remark excited the interest of Chaipentier and was practi- 

 cally the beginning of the investigations which have resulted in 

 the theory of the Ice Period. In 1834, Charpentier brought be- 

 fore the Association of Swiss Naturalists at Lucerne a report upon 

 the evidences of the former extension of the Swiss Glaciers, the 

 result of his observations through many years. At that time a 

 group of young, able, and enthusiastic scientists were gathered at 

 Neufchatel, — Agassiz, Guyot, Schimper, Desor, Carl Vogt, Wild 

 and others. The new theory of Charpentier that ice had once 

 filled all the Swiss valleys, excited in them the greatest interest, 

 and they devoted themselves during seven successive summer va- 

 cations to the thorough investigation of the facts upon which it 

 was based. Agassiz here as everywhere was leader, and inspired 

 the others with his irresistible enthusiasm. He devoted himself 

 especially to a study of the phenomena presented by the modern 

 glaciers, their mode of formation, the character, measure and 

 cause of their motion, etc. Practically he lived on the glaciers 

 during the summer months, and part of the time occupied with 

 his assistants a cave under a large boulder on the Aar glacier 

 which was long known as the Hotel des Neufchatelois. Guyot de- 

 voted himself to the study of the record of the glacial flood in the 

 Swiss valleys furnished by the boulders carried on the surface and 

 deposited along the edges of the ice, tracing with great sagacity 

 and perseverance the high-ice line over the Alps and Jura till he 

 had mapped out all the ancient glaciers. 



In 1837 the Associaiion of Swiss Naturalists met at Neufchatel, 

 and Agassiz then advanced the theory of a general glacial epoch 

 of which he may justly be called the author. At first it met with 

 violent opposition, but this only stimulated those who had adopted 

 it to greater enthusiasm in their researches. Ultimately it was 



