There are many other points of resemblance between the glacial and
fluvio-glacial accumulations of the two continents, but to these time
forbids any reference. Indeed, I cannot recall any signal difference.
Such differences as do occur are due simply to the varying conditions
of the two continental areas. The glacial phenomena of North America
are a repetition of those of Europe, but upon a much grander scale. The
boulder-clays of the former continent, in their composition, structure,
and distribution, exactly recall our own. Interglacial beds occur
under similar circumstances in both continents; and the same is the
case with the gravelly moraines and fluvio-glacial accumulations.
We are driven, then, to the conclusion that the physical conditions
of the Glacial period were practically the same in Europe and North
America. What those conditions were I have already indicated, and have
shown that the results arrived at by geologists are not vague dreams
and speculations, but a logical induction from well-ascertained facts.
Before we can believe that volcanic eruptions, a general deluge, or a
Palæocrystic Sea have produced the many varied phenomena of our glacial
formations, either in whole or in part, we must first shut our eyes and
then erase from our minds all knowledge of the facts which have been so
laboriously gathered by a long succession of competent observers.
[Illustration:
PLATE III
DISTRIBUTION OF ICE
PAST AND PRESENT.
POLAR VIEW
OF THE
WORLD
ON LAMBERTS EQUAL AREA PROJECTION
]
VII.
The Intercrossing of Erratics in Glacial Deposits.[Q]
[Q] _The Scottish Naturalist_, 1881.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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