i 4 4 
SCENERY OF SWITZERLAND. 
would have taken a similar period, the Granite 
blocks of Seeberg would have spent 2000 years and 
according to Falsan those at Lyons some 4000 years 
on their long journey. 
It is evident that these blocks cannot have been 
brought by water, both on account of the immense 
velocity which would have been required to transport 
such enormous weights, and because, amongst other 
reasons, their angles are as a rule sharp and unrounded. 
Their presence is often attributed to super- 
natural agency, and many legends grew up round 
them. Favre* records a remark made to him by 
a peasant with reference to a great block of Pro- 
togine near Sapey. “‘Jamais,’ disait-ils, ‘on a vu une 
si belle: elle est tout entiere, rien de casse. Et puis, 
elle est si tranquille. On ne sait pas si les pierres 
grandissent; mais, il y a 15 ans, je pouvais monter 
dessus, a present je ne sais comment cela se fait, 
mais je n’y puis grimper.’” 
Playfair, in 1802, appears to have been the first 
to compare these erratics with moraines, and to sug- 
gest that they w r ere transported by glaciers. 
“For the moving of the large masses of rock,” 
he says,** “the most powerful agents without doubt 
* Reck. Ge'ol., vol. I. 
** Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory, vol. I. 
