GLACIAL PHENOMENA IN MAINE. 
135 
to the north of it. Occasional boulders of a 
much more northern origin are not wanting. 
Another link in the evidence is that, wherever 
the marks are preserved on any abruptly ris¬ 
ing ground, they occur on its northern side, 
and do not appear on the southern one. Evi¬ 
dently the abrading agent advanced from the 
north, pushed up and over the face presented 
to it, while the southern face was compara¬ 
tively protected, the rigid mass no doubt often 
bridging the opposite declivity without even 
touching it. I suppose these facts, which per¬ 
haps seem insignificant in themselves, must 
be far less expressive to the general observer 
than to one who has seen this whole set of 
phenomena in active operation. To me they 
have been for many years so familiar in the 
Alpine valleys, and their aspect in those re¬ 
gions is so identical with the facts above de¬ 
scribed, that, paradoxical as the statement may 
seem, the presence of the ice is now an unim¬ 
portant element to me in the study of glacial 
phenomena. It is no more essential to the 
investigator who has once seen its connection 
with the facts, than is the flesh which once 
clothed it to the anatomist who studies the 
