Explanation of Glacial Phenomena. 281 



the sea as when the glaciers existed is probable ; but that 

 the whole of New Brunswick and Northern America were 

 submerged totally, or to one-tithe of the extent asserted by 

 certain theorists, I have no belief. Again, quoting the words 

 of the well-known geologist just mentioned,* when referring 

 to the direction of the force which caused the striae, he says : 

 " I have no hesitation in asserting, from my own observations 

 as well as from those of others, that for the south-west stria- 

 tion the direction was from the ocean towards the interior 

 against the slope of the St. Lawrence valley. . . . We can- 

 not suppose a glacier moving from the Atlantic tip into the 

 interior!" At the same time he admits that the striation on 

 the rocks of the Saguenay River, which flows at right angles 

 into the St. Lawrence valley, were possibly caused by a local 

 glacier.f But if we allow, when the subsidence took place at 

 the close of the Glacial epoch, that there were tracts of land 

 that sank deeper than others, and were completely submerged, 

 and did not rise again when the upward movement took place — 

 a phenomenon fully substantiated in other regions — how do 

 we- know that there was not a centre or centres of dispersal 

 far out in the Atlantic, which sent their glaciers in opposite 

 directions, as now seen on the Alps and Himalayas? 



With reference to the BOULDERS so plentifully distributed 

 along the slopes and valleys throughout this region ; having 

 visited many districts where these appearances are well seen, 

 and examined a very large number of the boulders themselves, 

 I perfectly agree with Hind J and others that in scarcely a 

 single instance is there any difficulty in tracing their origin to 

 the parent strata, which, as a rule, are at no great distance. 

 For example, the mineralogical composition of the granitic 

 boulders of the St. John River and neighbouring slopes agree 

 with the great central granitic belt which crosses the upper 



* "Acadian Geology," p. 69. 

 t Op. cit., p. 72, "foot-note." 

 t " Report on the Geology of New Brunswick." 



