780 
Proceedings of the Royal Society 
Advancement of Science held its usual annual meeting, and it in 
like manner appointed a Boulder Committee for England. 
For the first year or two of its existence, our Committee was 
occupied in procuring intelligence regarding boulders by circulars 
addressed to the parochial clergy and schoolmasters, and in our 
first two Reports, the information given was almost exclusively 
a statement merely of the localities of the boulders made known to 
us, their dimensions, and their altitude above sea-level. But latterly, 
the Committee, besides obtaining information on these points, has 
endeavoured to ascertain facts which seemed likely to throw light 
on the different theories of transport. Thus, almost the first ques- 
tion for eliciting information, in the event of the rock of a boulder 
differing in composition from all the rocks in the neighbourhood, 
was whether any other part of the country was known, where the 
same kind of rock prevailed % That being ascertained, How many 
miles must the boulder have travelled, to reach its site % In what 
direction by compass-bearings, did it travel 1 ? Had it to cross any 
valley deeper than its site % or to cross any range of hills higher than 
its site or to cross any arm of the sea ? If there were boulders 
perched on the summit or ridge of a hill at a great height, were 
there hills in the neighbourhood at a greater height, fit for being 
the birthplace of a glacier which might have brought the boulders *? 
These are examples of the inquiries which our Committee has 
latterly instituted, in order to obtain data for the solution of the pro- 
blem. I by no means say or think that the data obtained are yet 
sufficient; but in the eight Reports supplied by the Committee, a 
large amount of information will be found which at all events 
clears up many points of interest. 
I will now indicate verbally certain parts of the present year’s 
Report. 
During the past year materials have been contributed by twelve 
gentlemen, four of whom are members of the Committee. 
1. The district regarding which most information has been 
obtained is a very important one. It is the district of which Ben 
Nevis is the highest point, and it comprises about 12 square miles. 
The Ben itself reaches to an altitude above the sea-level of 4406 
feet ; but within the limits of the district, there are many hills 
exceeding 2500 feet, and several exceeding 3000 feet. 
