David Milne-Home on Ancient Glaciers. 6L 
so that there need be little reluctance in adopting the view 
suggested for explaining the extension of these ancient 
glaciers. 
My view, then, of the sequence of events is as follows :— 
1. This district of Switzerland stood above the sea 3000 
feet higher than at present. Glaciers then filled the valley of 
Chamouni, passing over the hill of Chavant, producing the 
scratches and furrows mentioned in a previous part of this 
paper, and descended as far as the Saléve mountains, depo- 
siting blocks in its course and at its termination. Glaciers 
filled also the whole valley of the Rhone, and reached the 
basin now occupied by the Lake of Geneva; and then 
turning westward towards Geneva, spread everywhere loads 
of alpine detritus, and lodged huge blocks on the mountain 
sides. 
2. Next came a period when the land gradually sunk, and 
when, of course, the temperature rose, so that the glaciers 
shrunk back to the higher parts of the valleys. 
The land was then submerged beneath the waters of a deep 
sea, and the glacial deposits were arranged into the stratified 
beds before referred to; but these deposits were not so en- 
tirely rearranged as to lose all the outward features of their 
glacial origin. In particular, they still retained the gradual 
slope from the mouth of the Rhone towards the west, which 
they must have had when deposited by a glacier. 
During this period of submergence, when, as we have seen, 
the land was lower than at present by so much as 3000 feet, 
the climate of Switzerland was probably better than it has 
been since; in which case we obtain a better explanation than 
has yet been given of the discovery of the bones of elephants, 
antelopes, and some other animals, requiring a mild climate, 
in quarries of gravel in different parts of Low Switzerland. 
During this period the glaciers must have been very much 
smaller than at present, and many of them would not exist. 
3. Then followed the last movement, when the country rose 
up to its present levels, and when, of course, the glaciers would 
again enlarge, but to a more limited extent. 
This last movement may have been gradual, or it may have 
been sudden. Of course, the more sudden it was, the more 
