Richard Bliss

“ In consequence of the rocky walls above the sides of the glacier becoming warmed by the sun, the ice is melted near them, and hence the glacier becomes convex. Into these troughs the débris from the walls fall and form long lines of bowlders, pebbles, and sand, which are called lateral moraines. When two glaciers flow together, the two lateral moraines on the adjoining sides of each unite and form what is called a medial moraine. A third form, the terminal moraine, is the accumulation of sand and rocks which the glacier pushes before in its progress down the valley. ”

“ The causes of the movement of the glacier are several. The weight of the glacier alone is not sufficient to propel it, as in this case the greatest movement would be in the winter, which is not the case. The principal agent is the infiltration of water, which is greatest when the winter snows are melting. The granular snow of the névé incloses numerous particles of air, which, when the snow is compressed into ice, form a net-work of capillary fissures that serve as canals of infiltration, the water in which, freezing, aids in propelling the glacier. ”

“ Agassiz found that the study of fossil fishes exhibits a remarkable parallelism between the development of the individual and that of the class in geologic time. During part of the embryonic life of fishes, and even in some adult forms, the dorsal cord exists as a simple gelatinous cylinder, surrounded by a fibrous sheath, in which, after a time, there is found a cartilaginous and then an osseous deposit, which goes to form the vertebrae, the ossification taking place first in the apophyses. ”

“ There is no trace of a vertebra, but the apophyses, usually ossified, rest directly on the spinal cord.
Regarding the permanence of type, the author found the species of one formation specifically distinct from those of another, and, while it is impossible to say that the species pass from one into another, as they appear and disappear suddenly without direct connection with their predecessors, yet, as a whole, they present a continual progress of development, from the lowest to the highest, and demonstrate most palpably the existence of an ever-present directive intelligence. ”

“ The middle of the glacier being deeper, moves faster than the sides, and, the lower layers advancing more rapidly than the upper ones, the strata become curved forward, the lower layers being more sharply arched. The arch thus becomes the measure of the rate of movement in the different parts of the glacier. From this it will be seen that Agassiz dissents from the theory of Tyndall, which represents the stratified lines as due to ice-cascades, or breakages of the glacier in passing over sharp angles. ”

“ The primary material of glacier-ice is the snow which falls in the high regions of the mountain. The yearly addition of snow in the higher cold regions gradually forces the snow down the valley; here, subject to alternate thawing and freezing, it undergoes a second crystallization into what is called névé snow, and still farther down, under increased pressure, comes transformed into a granular, opaque, bulbous ice, called névé ice, which at last changes into the compact blue ice of the glacier proper. ”

“ The glacier is a mass of ice reclining on the side of a mountain-ridge, or inclosed in a mountain-valley; it is always descending, and, while wasting away from heat at its lower extremity, is continually augmented at its source. ”

“ These fishes actually represent the embryonic age of the Reign of Fishes, undergoing "phases of development analogous to those of the embryo, and similar to the gradations which the present creation shows us in the ascending series it presents when viewed as a whole." The members of the five families whose species he describes, are characterized by the absence of distinct vertebræ, the apophyses resting on the spinal cord, and by the absence of ossification in the internal case of the cranium. ”

“ Among the Scutellæ Agassiz found well-marked differences between the living and fossil species, and that all the species of the genera Mellita, Rotula, and Encope, belong to the existing epoch. He found, moreover, that the species increase in size as they approach the present period. ”

“ The geographical distribution of animals shows that distinct zoological provinces are each characterized by peculiar fauna, and that therefore animals did not originate from a common centre nor from a single pair. ”

“ The egg originates from between the cells of the stroma, and is in itself the animal in the first stages of development. The eggs are laid once a year, and grow a long time before they are fecundated. ”

“ The races of men, in their natural distribution, cover the same ground as the zoological provinces, and he believes there is every reason to suppose that these races originally appeared as nations in the regions they now occupy. ”

“ Accordingly he based his classification on the following divisions, which he deemed covered all the categories of relationship, as far as their structure is concerned: Branches, or types characterized by their plan of structure; of these, he admitted four, Vertebrates, Articulates, Molluscs, and Radiates. Classes, which are characterized by the mode of execution of the plan. Orders, by the degree of complication of structure. Families, by the form as determined by structure. Genera, by the details of execution ”