232 SIE HENRY H. HOWORTH, D.C.L.^ F.K.S., ON ICE OR WATEE. 



covered with perennial snow, and sent down a magnificent glacier 

 to a level of 4,000 feet above the present surface of the Mediter- 

 ranean. That glacier is represented by the great moraine on which 

 the cedars of Lebanon are growing at the present time ; and it was 

 identified by Sir Joseph Hooker. The existence of a glacier at 

 that period was long before the writers of the Old Testament were 

 born. 



I feel gratified at the concurrence of Professor Lobley with 

 what I have stated in my paper. I think it is too late to dwell 

 upon them or to add anything to what I have said. I should like 

 to say that in regard to the centres of dispersion of the ice period 

 in Ireland that even at the extreme south-west of Ireland, where 

 the temperature is much the same as that at Biarritz, in the west 

 of France, there were large glaciers coming down from the 

 mountains of Kerry which were covered with snow, and sent down 

 glaciers through the valleys into the sea and on to the land. Their 

 traces are very clearly shown, so that the extension of the ice must 

 have been very prevalent over a large part of the British Isles. 



Mr. Bridges-Lee has referred to a possible cause of the glacial 

 period, namely, the movement of the axis. No one can deny that 

 if there had been such a change in the equator, with regard to the 

 ecliptic, it might have brought about such a change as would 

 produce a glacial period, but I am so strongly impressed with the 

 view that it was owing to the elevation of the whole land along 

 Europe and West Africa that it is unnecessary to have recourse to 

 such recondite reasons as that referred to. I am really unwilling 

 to accept any other theory for that remarkable period in geological 

 history. I am obliged to you for your kindness; I trust that 

 nothing I have said, or any opinion expressed, could possibly give 

 offence to the author of this work. 



The meeting closed with the usual votes of thanks. 



