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I have carefully examined many of these mounds in the 
neighbourhood of Kendal, where they occur in great num- 
bers ; and in a short geological tour which I made into 
Teesdale a fortnight since, I saw them in still greater force ; 
and I cannot think that any one, dispassionately viewing these 
heaps of unstratified matter, could attribute their origin to 
the action of running water. 
The promulgation of M. Agassiz' theory has given rise 
to much discussion ; and although some of the conclusions at 
which he arrives appear very doubtful, yet, so far as it sup- 
poses the existence of permanent snow and glaciers in the 
North of England and Scotland, it has met with the concur- 
rence of many eminent geologists. Others, on the contrary, 
scout the idea of the climate of this country having ever 
been sufficiently rigorous to produce these effects. But when 
we refer to the actual condition of another part of the globe, 
in precisely the same latitude as England, this difficulty, in a 
great measure, vanishes. 
To all who feel any interest on this question, I would re- 
commend the careful perusal of the 13th chapter of Mr. 
Darwin's excellent work on the voyage of the ship Beagle, 
which was sent by the English government on a surveying 
expedition to the straits of Magellan and the coasts of South 
America. We there find accounts of glaciers of surpassing 
magnitude coming down to the water's edge in the latitude 
of Cumberland, and every means in constant activity which 
would be required to produce the effects under consideration. 
It would be irregular at this time to enter fully into the 
consideration of the glacial theory ; but I have thought it 
necessary to allude to it, in order to elucidate the opinions 
which I venture to express relative to the boulders to which 
I have called your attention. 
That floating ice has been an agent in the transport of 
erratic blocks, is no new theory. It is distinctly laid down 
