Glacier IVork. — Scott. 2iy 
this country his home till his death in 1873. Two of his most 
important contributions to glaciology are "Etudes sur les gla- 
ciers" (1840) and "Systeme Glaciare" (1847). It is inter- 
esting" to note in connection with the work of Agassiz in Eu- 
rope that he believed "the great extension of ice was con- 
nected with the last great geological changes on the surface 
of the globe, and with the extinction of the large pachyderms,, 
whose remains are so abundant in Siberia. He believed that 
"the glaciers did not advance from the Alps into the plains, 
but rather that the ice once covered all the grounds, and 
finally retreated into the mountains."* He further demon- 
strated the identity of the conditions which obtained in Bri- 
tain with those of Switzerland, claiming- that "not only gla- 
ciers once existed in the British Islands, but that large sheets 
of ice covered all the surface," t and in extending his in- 
vestigations to America, showed that the northern part of 
this continent also, including the northern and eastern por- 
tions of the United States have been under an enormous ice 
mass. 
In the history of glaciology his researches have been most 
admirably supplemented by the works of Buckland, Lyell, 
Darwin, Archibald Geikie, James Geikie, Dana, Le Conte, 
Daubree, Heim, Forbes, and many others who might be 
mentioned, until the literature upon the subject is not only 
most voluminous, but highly instructive concerning the past 
history of the world as indicated by present di^y glaciologicrd 
evidence. 
In a comprehensive work on glaciers published twenty 
years ago. Prof. Shaler, of Harvard University, expressed 
the opinion that "Of all the elements of our understanding of 
the past, the knowledge of the changes of condition in the 
earth brought about by glaciers is clearly the most important." % 
Whether this statement still remains undisputed, is perhaps 
open to question, yet the fact certainly holds that geology 
has a valuable corner stone that has been properly placed by 
glaciology. 
The reference to the history of the subject here given 
is extremely brief, and interested students may read with 
*The Founders of Geologr>-, Geikie, A. p. 274. 
tProc. Geo!. Soc. Vol. III. (1840). p. 331. 
tOlaciers. Shaler and Davis. 1881. 
