2o6 



Louis Agassiz. 



work appeared in 1840 and 1841 in the German and 

 French languages, and was illustrated by fine plates. 

 This was followed by numerous short papers, lec- 

 tures, monographs, and descriptions of visits to 

 various glacial regions, and in 1847 appeared his 

 Systhne Glaciaire^ an elaborate effort, beautifully 

 illustrated. This not only includes Agassiz's ob- 

 servations, but contains a resume of all that had 

 hitherto been observed regarding glaciers. The 

 stray papers on this subject, which Agassiz wrote in 

 these years, if collected, would form a volume in 

 themselves. One especially is brought to mind for 

 its interest and value. It appeared in the Edinburgh 

 New Philosophical Journal in October, 1842, and 

 was entitled The Glacial Theory and its Recent 

 Progress.'* It contained a map of the interesting 

 region about Glen Roy. An example of Agassiz*s 

 description is found in the following from a paper 

 on the formation of glaciers : 



The long summer was over. For ages a tropical 

 climate had prevailed over a great part of the earth, 

 and animals whose home is now beneath the equa- 

 tor roamed over the world from the far south to 

 the very borders of the arctics. The gigantic 

 quadrupeds, the mastodons, elephants, tigers, lions, 

 hyenas, bears, whose remains are found in Europe 

 from its southern promontories to the northernmost 

 limits of Siberia and Scandinavia, and in America 

 from the Southern States to Greenland and the 

 Melville Islands, may indeed be said to have pos- 

 sessed the earth in those days. But their reign was 

 over. A sudden intense winter, that was also to last 



