1831-1841.] 
GLACIERS. 
141 
glacial theory, and found in Buckland an uncompromising 
opponent. “ We have made,” writes Mrs. Buckland in 1838 
to the Swiss Professor, “ a good tour of the Oberland, and 
have seen glaciers, etc., but Dr. Buckland is as far as ever 
from agreeing with you.” It is no slight proof of his 
openness of mind that he frankly acknowledged his error, 
when he found that the discoveries of Agassiz satis¬ 
factorily explained the existence of boulders and large 
water-worn stones in positions far above what is now the 
reach of the agencies to which they must have been at one 
time subjected. To complete the glacial theory, the two 
friends travelled together to Aberdeen to confer with the 
celebrated Professor Fleming, to whom in his monograph 
on Fossil Fishes Agassiz refers. “We have found,” writes 
Buckland in 1840 to the Aberdeen Professor, “ abundant 
traces of glaciers round Ben Nevis,” To the glacial theory 
he became an enthusiastic convert, and was not satisfied 
till he had made other leading geologists recognise the 
importance of the discovery. “ Lyell,” he writes to Agassiz, 
“ has accepted your theory in to to !! On my showing him 
a beautiful cluster of moraines within two miles of his 
father’s house, he instantly accepted it as solving a host 
of difficulties that have all his life embarrassed him.” 
Buckland himself supported Agassiz with an elaborate 
paper of observations on the polished, striated, and furrowed 
surfaces of the sides of mountains. In writing to tell his 
Swiss friend that the paper was being prepared, he adds : 
“ I expect Murchison will be converted by the inspection 
of the moraines near Lyell’s house. I have found similar 
polish and scratches on the rock of Edinboro’ Castle, and. 
