Perry.] 64 [February 28, 
sachusetts. In many other localities deposits occur somewhat similar 
in appearance, which have been usually described as old sea- 
beaches. As some of these certainly owe their existence to an en- 
direly different set of conditions, which will be mentioned in the 
sequel, they need not be cited even by name in this place. 
The three-fold statement now made furnishes a brief, but compre- 
hensive enumeration of many of the more important points connected 
with the glacial times; of some of the more striking appearances, 
indicative of what took place in New England at a comparatively 
recent day; of a few of the more prominent points that are, or may 
be, appealed to as proof that ice has done a mighty work in this 
region. They are phenomena, most of which are regarded as indica- 
tions of ice-agency; and they all are invoked, in the way of evidence 
or of explanation, and on the one side or the other of the glacial 
hypothesis, in the broad sense of the expression. They are facts 
which stare us in the face whichever way we turn; facts which every 
enquirer must admit, however he may seek to account for them, and 
which no one thinks of denying; facts, many of which are regarded 
as unmistakable proof of ice-agency. In exactly what form the ice 
acted is another question, and one respecting which all are by no 
means agreed. Granting for the moment, and until the facts have 
received that more explicit elucidation which is suited to waken con- 
viction, that ice was mainly concerned in the production of the effects 
under consideration, I would next raise the query whether it was in 
the form of icebergs, as many have tried to maintain, or in that of 
glaciers, as not a few are now disposed to insist. Taking up the 
iceberg hypothesis as a mode of explanation which has been widely 
recognized, and which many have believed to be the true one, I 
proceed to inquire whether one can really discover, under this phase 
of the subject, 
§ 2. The Causation of the Phenomena. 
The view now to be considered in relation to New England, is 
substantially the one which has been so ably advocated by Sir Charles 
Lyell, not only in respect to the British Isles, but as generally appli- 
cable to drift wherever it appears. This theory was accepted, illus-- 
trated, and defended with great labor and skill by the late President 
Hitchccck.1 Indeed, many have adopted the Lyellian explanation, 
1 See his various “ Geological Reports,’’ and especially his “ Illustrations of Sur- 
face Geology.” 
