1872.] 61 [Perry. 
drift? It consists, first, of fine comminuted matter in the form of a 
paste. This is composed of sand or clay, and serves as a bed or 
matrix to hold a second material which is made up for the most part 
of fragments of rock of varying size. These, which are in some 
instances ancular, are, in the majority of cases, polished or grooved, 
at least on one side; while in other instances they have several 
smoothed faces; occasionally they are also striated in two or more 
different directions, and in most portions of the aggregate mass of 
matter they are, to a considerable extent, rounded. 
(2.). The derivation of the superimposed material. This is pecu- 
liar, and needs particular consideration. It is not enough to say that 
it came from «a distance; in every case, a knowledge of its exact 
origin is desirable, since it is calculated to throw light on many 
related points. But while the derivation of the drift is peculiar, the 
facts about to be stated are almost as universal as is the occurrence 
of the mass itself. In New England it is plainly the fact, though 
there should be minor modifications of the statement, that this trav- 
elled matter was usually brought from localities lying in a direction 
a little to the west of north of the place in which itis found. This 
remark applies to the great bulk of the drift formation; smaller por- 
tions, which constitute occasional exceptions, are no doubt ordinarily 
due to local peculiarities, or to the action of agencies under limited 
relations. ‘his mass of material was also clearly derived from rocks 
which lie for the most part only a short distance from the position in 
which it now occurs. Close examination of a great number of local- 
ities convinces me that the larger proportion of this matter has not 
been carried more than fifteen or twenty miles; other portions have 
been borne forty or fifty, and a few perhaps have travelled even sev- 
eral hundred miles. Such is largely the fact in the Eastern States, 
and, as I am convinced, in most hilly regions. In many of the west- 
ern portions of the Union, so far as my observations have extended, 
and probably in level countries generally, a conside~ably larger 
proportion of this glacial material is from a greater distance, and 
some of it is very far-travelled. That this heterogeneous matter — 
reference is now made to drift proper — was not laid down in water 
under any ordinary circumstances, is clearly evident from the fact 
that it is not stratified, or in any wise arranged in layers. 
(8.) The condition of the superimposed material. In this point, 
also, asin the one just noticed, the drift has peculiar features; and 
still the peculiarity about to be considered is little less general than 
