1831-1841.] 
GLACIAL THEORIES. 
143 
And many a rock, indented with sharp force 
And still-seen striae, shows my ancient course; 
And if you doubt it, go with friend Agassiz 
And view the signs in Scotland and Swiss passes.” 
How effective was Buckland’s support of the views of the 
young Swiss Professor is shown by the testimony of men 
who were afterwards eminent in science. Thus Professor 
Prestwich writes : “ I was a young man during Dr. Buck- 
land’s latter years, and used to listen at the Geological 
Society to his vigorous and successful advocacy of a glacial 
period.” So, too, Professor Bonney declares that “ it is 
to Dr. Buckland we owe the recognition of the action of 
glaciers in the country.” 
Of the glacial theory of Professor Agassiz, Buckland gave 
the following description in an Ashmolean lecture :— 
“ Agassiz considers the glacial period was between the 
ancient and present state of our planet, and that the 
melting of this ice was the cause of enormous deluges, 
which have produced in the low lands many of the great 
accumulations of gravel to which the name of diluvium has 
been applied. There is abundant evidence of the effects 
of glaciers (such as now exist in Switzerland) in most of 
the valleys proceeding from the higher ranges of moun¬ 
tains in this country. It is well known that large pieces 
of rock constantly fall on the glacier margin. The 
progressive motion of the ice carries these stones partly 
on the surface and partly at the bottom of the glacier. 
Every glacier is thus thickly set with fragments fixed 
firmly in the ice, like the teeth of a file, and these being 
slowly forced against the sides and bottom of the valley 
are continually producing a series of scratches and grooves 
upon the rocks they pass. The expansive force that 
moves the glacier is caused by the successive thawings and 
freezings of the ice. Precisely similar gffects appear to 
