The first edition of _The Great Ice Age_ was completed in manuscript in 1873, and in the previous year James Geikie had already published a series of papers in the _Geological Magazine_ which clearly outlined his main conclusions. All the essential features which were to distinguish his life-work in this highly controversial field are already recognisable in these papers. The principal characteristic of _The Great Ice Age_ is its literary ability, the power of lucidly expounding intricate scientific theories and sketching the evidence on which they rest in a manner which equally avoids prolixity and obscurity. Although, as we have shown, he was by no means the first to champion the cause of land ice as against floating ice as the dominant factor in the production of the drift, he was immediately accorded the place of protagonist in this cause. In Scotland his views, at any rate among his colleagues on the Survey, were those generally accepted. In England also the Survey geologists were in agreement with him on most of the essential points, though the submergence hypothesis and the efficiency of floating icebergs were long held in esteem in the sister kingdom, and have not yet completely fallen into disrepute. In Germany, Norway, Sweden, Holland, and in North America there had as yet been no general enlightenment on the real merits of this controversy. It may be noted that in the first edition of his _Great Ice Age_, James Geikie did not deny the fact that a great submergence accompanied the main glaciation of Britain. He accepted it indeed, though in later years he saw reason to modify this opinion. The efficiency of land ice to explain most of the puzzling features of the drifts was the main thesis which the book was written to uphold. But there were many subordinate problems which came up for consideration. One of these is the amount of erosion which the ice-sheets and glaciers had produced. In this James Geikie followed very closely in the footsteps of Ramsay; on the origin of rock-basins, fjords, and sea lochs there is in fact practically complete agreement in their views. This is the more significant, because Ramsay was at that time far ahead of educated geological opinion on these matters, and it is only quite recently that his views have received acceptance in some of the most influential geological circles.