Miscellaneous, 



397 



tion, seems to have set all our geologists off upon a new scent — 

 glacier hunting. That distinguished zoologist and geologist, by 

 his interesting work and illustrations on the Glaciers of Switzer- 

 land*, has, we think, proved that they formerly existed at a much 

 lower level than they do now on the Alps of the continent, and 

 anxiety to examine a country where glaciers no longer existed was 

 the immediate motive of his visit to Scotland during the last autumn. 

 In company with accomplished English and Scotch geologists, the 

 examination was accordingly made, and the same appearances which 

 characterize the rocks under the European glaciers being observed 

 in various parts of the higher mountain ranges of Scotland, induced 

 M. Agassiz to believe that they formerly existed in these mist-clad 

 regions, and that many of the phenomena attributed to the action 

 of water, such as the parallel rods of Glenroy, &c. were caused by 

 their influence : and he writes thus on the subject to Professor 

 Jamieson : — 



"After having obtained in Switzerland the most conclusive proofs, 

 that at a former period the glaciers were of much greater extent 

 than at present, nay, that they had covered the whole country, and 

 had transported the erratic blocks to the places where these are 

 now found, it was my wish to examine a country where glaciers 

 are no longer met with, but in which they might formerly have 

 existed. I therefore directed my attention to Scotland, and had 

 scarcely arrived in Glasgow, when I found remote traces of the 

 action of glaciers, and the nearer I approached the high mountain 

 chains these became more distinct, until, at the foot of Ben Nevis, 

 and in the principal valleys, I discovered the most distinct moraines and 

 polished rocky surfaces, just as in the valleys of the Swiss Alps, in 

 the region of existing glaciers ; so that the existence of glaciers in 

 Scotland at early periods can no longer be doubted. The parallel 

 roads of Glen Roy are intimately connected with this former occur- 

 rence of glaciers, and have been caused by a glacier from Ben Nevis. 

 The phenomenon must have been precisely analogous to the glacier 

 lakes of the Tyrol, and to the event that took place in the valley 

 of Bagne." 



At one of the early meetings of the Geological Society of London 

 M. Agassiz read a paper, illustrating his views and their application 

 to Scotland. This was followed on the 4th November by a long 

 paper from Dr. Buckland, on the same subject, and which was con- 

 cluded at the meeting of the 18th, but reserving its more minute 

 details for a subsequent evening : while Mr. Lyell has also com- 

 menced the reading of a paper " On the Geological Evidence of the 

 former existence of Glaciers in Forfarshire." Dr. Buckland, in his 

 paper, gives a general account of his late tour in Scotland, and 

 among the more remarkable parts of his communication is the an- 

 nouncement that the traces of ancient glaciers are apparent in Crick- 

 hope Linn, in Nithsdale, Dumfries-shire, upon the rocks of Stirling 

 and Edinburgh castles, and upon Corstorphine, the Calton, and Law 



* Etudes sur les Glaciers, par L. Agassiz, dessinees d'apres Nature et 

 Lithographies par J. Bettannier, 1840, Neuchatel. — See above, p. 392. 



