The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-01-15

white parchment, and the photographs are ex-
ceedingly fine The whole thing has been done
in Rome, but several copies have been sent to
this country. and are for sale at Doll and
Richards 10 Boston, at ten dollars each This
collection of pictures finely represents Mr..
Vedder's peculiar genius, and as an exponent
of his weird fancy and wonderful power of ex-
preston, is very valuable. A copy of the vol
ume may be seen at Hale's art gallery, on Fres
Street, where orders will be taken for it,
GEOLOGICAL SKETCHES. By Louis Agassiz. Sec
ond series. Boston: j. r. Osgood & Co. For sale
by Loring, Short & Harmon.
This volume, taken in connection with the
first series, presents in permanent form and
proper order all the geological papers contrib
uted by Professor Agassz to the Atlantic
Monthly. To all those interested in the sub
ject it will be of great and permanent value,
and it will especially commend itself to the
admirers of the author. The contents are
"Glacial Period" "The Parallel Roads OF Glen
Roy, in Scotland "Ice- Period in America"
''Glacial Phenomena in Maine," and "Physi-
cal History of the Valley OF the Amazon"
Ths paper of greatest interest to Maine
readers, and one familiar to many of them, is
that on the glacial phenomena in this state.
In September, 1864, Professor Agassiz came to
Maine in order to examine the drift phenomena
of our coast aud islands, hoping thus to coll
lect new facts in illustration and substantial
tion of the glacial theory. In this object he
succeeded finding not a few of those dislodged
masses which in Germany go by the express
i've name Fdndlinge-homeless children. His
first exploration was northward from Bangor,
along the 'horsebacks," in the direction of
Mount Katahdin. These horsebacks, some
times stretching for miles. and trending main
ly from north to south, consts of loose mate
rials of various sizes, usually without marked
evidence of a regular internal arrangement,
though occasionally traces of imperfect strait
fication are perceptible. They are not mo-
raines in the ordinary sense of the term, but
rather ridges of glacial drift heaped up in this
singular form, as if they had been crowded to-
gether by some lateral pressure. Agassiz called
them ground moraines, and considered them
identical with the bottom glacial drift. The
most perfect one he saw, stretched through La
grange.
Leaving the horsebacks he next entered the
wooded region, soon reaching the Katahdin
| Iron WORKS, most interesting locality with
| reference to glacial phenomena The ''gult''
between the Horseback and Spruceback ranges
of hills strikingly resembles, he says, the
trough holding the present glacier Of the Upper
| Aar in Switzerland. In fact were the ice sud-
denly to disappear from the Alpine valley in
which the Aar glacier lies, the rocky Frame
work of loose fragments it has built around
| itself would be almost identical with the Ka-
tahdin gulf" Pursuing his journey he found
| marks OF the great ice-sheet over the whole
| length and breadth of Maine. In many locali-
| ties of this state the shining polished surfaces
| are to be found by the wayside. Those who
have ever heard Professor Bracket in the lee
ture-room at Brunswick discourse on geology
will remember with what glee he pointed to
the smooth stone post near the old Tontine
| tavern as an evidence of the glacier period.
| In the islands off our harbor some fine exam
| Piles are to be found. The ice-felds, according
| to Agassiz, must have had q thickness of at
least five thousand feet when they poured from
| the north over New England to the sea. In
Mount Desert be found his most abundant evi.
dence. The extensive surfaces Of polished and
| scratched rocks there reminded him Of the
| celebrated Helle-Pstten of the valley of HASH.
Mount Desert itself, be says, must in the gla-
cial period have been a miniature Spitzbergen,
and colossal icebergs foated off from Somes's
Sound into the Atlantic, as they do nowadays,
from Magdeena Bay.
1t was not in stones alone that Agassiz found
sermons. He saw all worth seeing on hi;
journeys An unusual beauty of foliage, fine
view opening up through rift in the woods
bird of strange plumage or song, appealed tC
to his artist as well as to his scientific sense
So his descriptions are charming even to the
unscientiic reader, who will seldom find such
an opportunity to take his instruction sugared.
THE LITTLE JOANNA. A novel. By Kamba
Thorpe. New York; d. Appleton & Co. Publish
ers. For sale by Bailey & Noyes.
A pleasant novel in paper covers. The char
acters are we'll drawn and tolerably interesting
The book is well written and is superior to the
average holiday novel.