, 1867-04-12
NUMBER II.
The Ancient Gla.ler. Of the Tropics.

serss5 OF Lectures descriptive OF his explora<
tions of the Valley of the Amazon:
lie stated that the Valley Of the Amazon
was easily accessible, for steamers left New
York for that place once a month. He also
stated that it would be interesting for those
who contemplated commercial relations With
Brazil, especially in the Valley of the Ama>
zon, that all the spices of the East-pepper,
cloves, nutmeg, camphor, and the like have
been cultivated there, and might be cultiya,
ted to such advantage that they could, under
sklllful management, share the benefits Of
the ceHameres- which 40 nOw exclusively In
the hands Of European nations He would
first call attention to the submits of the
Alps, and then gradually invite them TO
travel over those regions over which the gla.
ciers themselves moved, and perhaps they
would see that where the tropical sun shone
to-day, there was at one time field of Ice
extending over the Valley of the Amazon
extending towards the Atlantic, and perhaps
covering the sea to such an extent that the
question might well be asked, as it was now
asked at the polar region whether there was
open water under the equator? 50 far, he
believed, did the evidence 90, and so exten.
siye, he was satisfied, had the changes Of
temperature upon the surface of our globo
been. What are glaciersy An accumulation
OF snow and ice gradually passing from a
more snowy ,ondition into a more icy condi>
ton, and in the process of this change de.
scendlng from the heights where snow falls
into the region where the snow aud ice melt
every summer. In their appearance they
present unusual beauty. We had no glacier
regions on the eastern side of this continent;
there were glaciers in the Rocky Mountains
along the whole range of high snmmitG,
which extend to the southern extremity Of
South America, varying in height. The
lecturer proceeded at length to give de~
scrptlon of the formation of glaciers aud the
glaciers Of the Alps. The immense icebergs
which were seen on the Atlantic were not
frozen sea water, but glacier ice broken loose
from the masses TO which they were attached
and then foated away. He called their st-
tenhon to the transparency of ice to heat, as
1t had an important bearing on his subject,
and explained by means Of the black board,
the effects of glaciers upon the ocean and
the land. In order to have proper idea Of
what glacier was, it must be seen under all
possible conditions of the atmosphere. The
PrnfAssnr thnn Aasnrihnh nannliar rhnnn.-
respecting the glacier. No glacier was a
stationary mass of ice, but a moving mass,
which moved at rate proportiOnate to the
bulk OF Ice. He had been under glaciers,
and saw pieces of rock indenting the ice,
which fell from the mountains. The Profess
sor demonstrated that at one time the whole
surface of Switzerland was covered with gla-
ciers; so of England, and be traced marks
Of glaciers over the whole Of North America,
down to the latitude Of 32o, at Charleston,
South Carolina From this he deduced tho
great fact that the climate Of the earth had
undergone stQpendOus changes There were
glaciers which moved upon even ground
southwark, and that fact was now clearly
established. He was satisfied there were
glaciers iu Maine six thousand feet thick,
and that snow fell on this continent fifteen
thousand feet thick The earth was at one
time cool enough to allow the accumulation
of ice within the tropics. In the neighbour
hood Of Rio de Janeiro he saw unmistakable
signs of former glacier action, and after vis-
iting the Valley of the Amazon, he was sat-
isfed that once the whole'o of that valley was
occupied BY stupendous glaciers coming
down from the Andes and the region Of the
Atlantic. All the loose materials which now
form the bottom of the valley of the Amazon
we're materials which had been ground BY
that ice, and scattered evenly over the whole
of that land in the same manner as the val'
ley of the Rhine was now occupied by mud
and clay which were once ground In the
Alps In conclusion, the Professor said that
be was convinced from his Investigations
that the Bay of Massachusetts,, Long Island
Sound, and all the bays OF the great rivers
we're once flied with loose materials of this
immense sheet Of ice advancing towards tho
ocean.