232 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



beyand the reach of the streams which now traverse the 

 country, and because it contains the remains of extinct 

 mammaha. 



Another question of interest dwelt upon in the paper, 

 is the total absence, on both flanks of the Ural Mountains, 

 of erratic blocks, and, as far as the author^s observations 

 extended, of any traces of those scratches, grooves, and 

 polishings, which are considered, by the advocates of the 

 glacial theory, to be proofs of the former existence of 

 glaciers ; and it is stated as an argument in support of 

 the objections previously advanced by the authors against 

 those views, that in the northern portion of the chain, 

 between 60^ and 65^ of latitude, no glaciers are found on 

 peaks constantly covered with snow, and attaining an 

 altitude exceeding that of the highest mountains of the 

 British Isles. This absence of all the phenomena of glacial 

 action must, they contend, utterly exclude the possibility 

 of the lower or flat regions of Russia having been once in- 

 vested in a cerement of ice. The problem connected with 

 the entombment of mammalian remains in the gold alluvia, 

 as well as in alluvium generally, the authors state, is ex- 

 tremely difficult of solution, but that by whatever means 

 the universal destruction of those great mammals, during 

 one particular period, may be attempted to be explained, 

 they conceive that it was owing, in the district under con- 

 sideration, (including the low regions extending from each 

 flank of the Ural,) to an elevation whereby a change to a 

 colder climate was effected. 



BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



The annual assemblage of the members of the association 

 took place in Manchester, on June 22nd. 1842. The 

 General Committee assembled on that day, under the pre- 

 sidency of Professor Whewell, when the report of the com- 



