I trust this brief treatise will be useful not only in interesting the general public, but in giving a clear view of the present state of progress in one department of the inquiries concerning man’s antiquity. If the conclusions reached are not as positive as could be wished, still it is both desirable and important to see what degree of indefiniteness rests upon the subject, in order that rash speculations may be avoided and future investigations directed in profitable lines.

G. Frederick Wright.
Oberlin, Ohio, May 1, 1892.

CONTENTS.

PAGES
CHAPTER I.
Introductory[1-8]
CHAPTER II.
Existing Glaciers[9-42]
In Europe; in Asia; in Oceanica; in South America; on the Antarctic Continent; in North America.
CHAPTER III.
Glacial Motion[43-50]
CHAPTER IV.
Signs of Past Glaciation[51-65]
CHAPTER V.
Ancient Glaciers in the Western Hemisphere[66-128]
New England; New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; the Mississippi Basin; west of the Rocky Mountains.
CHAPTER VI.
Ancient Glaciers in the Eastern Hemisphere[129-192]
Central and Southern Europe; the British Isles—the Preglacial Level of the Land, the Great Glacial Centres, the Confluent Glaciers, the East Anglian Glacier, the so-called Great Submergence; Northern Europe; Asia; Africa.
CHAPTER VII.
Drainage Systems in the Glacial Period [193-241]
In America—Preglacial Erosion, Buried Outlets and Channels, Ice-dams, Ancient River Terraces; in Europe.
CHAPTER VIII.
Relics of Man in the Glacial Period[242-301]
In Glacial Terraces of the United States; in Glacial Terraces of Europe; in Cave Deposits in the British Isles; in Cave Deposits on the Continent; Extinct Animals associated with Man; Earliest Man on the Pacific Coast of North America.
CHAPTER IX.
The Cause of the Glacial Period[302-331]
CHAPTER X.
The Date of the Glacial Period[332-364]
Appendix on the Tertiary Man[365-374]
Index[375-385]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

FIG.PAGE
1.Zermatt Glacier[2]
2.Formation of veined structure[3]
3,4. Formation of marginal fissures and veins[4]
5.Fissures and seracs[4]
6.Section across glacial valley, showing old lateral moraines[5]
7.Mont Blanc glacier region[10]
8.Svartisen Glacier[13]
9.Floating berg[18]
10.Iceberg in the Antarctic Ocean[20]
11.Map of southeastern Alaska[22]
12.Map of Glacier Bay, Alaska[25]
13.Front of Muir Glacier[26]
14.Map of glaciers in the St. Elias Alps[31]
15.Map of Greenland[33]
16.Diagram showing the character of glacial motion[43]
17.Line of most rapid glacial motion[45]
18.Diagram showing retardation of the bottom of a glacier[46]
19.Bed-rock scored with glacial marks[52]
20.Scratched stone from the till of Boston[54]
21.Typical section of till in Seattle, Wash.[55]
22.Ideal section showing how the till overlies the stratified rocks[56]
23.Vessel Rock, a glacial boulder[56]
24.Map of Rhône Glacier[58]
25.Conglomerate boulder found in Boone County, Ky.[63]
26.Mohegan Rock[72]
27.Drumlins in Goffstown, N. H.[73]
28.Map of drumlins in the vicinity of Boston[75]
29.Section of kame[77]
30.Map of kames in Andover, Mass.[78]
31.Longitudinal kames near Hingham, Mass.[79]
32.Map showing the kames of Maine and southeastern New Hampshire[81]
33.Western face of the Kettle Moraine near Eagle, Wis.[99]
34.Section of the east-and-west glacial furrows on Kelly’s Island[103]
35.Same as the preceding[105]
36.Section of till near Germantown, Ohio[108]
37.Moraines of Grape Creek, Col.[123]
38.Map of North America in the Ice period[127]
39.Quartzite boulder on Mont Lachat[128]
40.Map showing glaciated areas in North America and Europe[130]
41.Maps showing lines of débris extending from the Alps into the plains of the Po[134]
42.Section of the Cefn Cave[148]
43.Map showing moraine between Speeton and Flamborough[156]
44.Diagram-section near Cromer[166]
45.Section through the westerly chalk bluff at Trimingham, Norfolk[162]
46.Section across Wales[172]
47.Section of cliff at Flamborough Head[176]
48.Enlarged section of the shelly sand and surrounding clay at B in preceding figure[177]
49.Map showing the glaciated area of Europe[184]
50.Map showing old channel and mouth of the Hudson[195]
51.New York Harbor in preglacial times[197]
52.Section across the valley of the Cuyahoga River[200]
53.Map of Mississippi River from Fort Snelling to Minneapolis[209]
54.Map showing the effect of the glacial dam at Cincinnati[213]
55.Map of Lake Erie-Ontario[219]
56.Map of Cuyahoga Lake[221]
57.Section of the lake ridges near Sandusky, Ohio[223]
58.Map showing stages of recession of the ice in Minnesota[225]
59.Glacial terrace on Raccoon Creek, in Ohio[227]
60.Ideal section across a river-bed in drift region[229]
61.Map of Lakes Bonneville and Lahontan[234]
62.Parallel roads of Glen Roy[239]
63.Map showing glacial terraces on the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers[243]
64.Palæolith found by Abbott in New Jersey[244]
65.Section across the Delaware River at Trenton, N. J.[245]
66.Section of the Trenton gravel[246]
67.Face view of argillite implement found by Dr. C. C. Abbott in 1876.[247]
68.Argillite implement found by Dr. C. C. Abbott, March, 1879[248]
69.Chipped pebble of black chert found by Dr. C. L. Metz, October, 1885[249]
70.Map showing glaciated area in Ohio[250]
71.Palæoliths from Newcomerstown and Amiens (face view)[252]
72.Edge view of the preceding[253]
73.Section across the Mississippi Valley at Little Falls, Minn.[254]
74.Quartz implement found by Miss F. E. Babbitt, 1878, at Little Falls, Minn[255]
75.Argillite implement found by H. T. Cresson, 1887[259]
76.General view of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad cut, Claymont, Del.[260]
77.Section across valley of the Somme[262]
78.Mouth of Kent’s Hole[268]
79.Engis skull (reduced)[274]
80.Comparison of forms of skulls[276]
81.Skull of the Man of Spy[277]
82.Tooth of Machairodus neogæus[281]
83.Perfect tooth of an Elephas[281]
84.Skull of Hyena spelæa[282]
85.Celebrated skeleton of mammoth in St. Petersburg Museum[283]
86.Molar tooth of mammoth[284]
87.Tooth of Mastodon Americanus[284]
88.Skeleton of Mastodon Americanus[286]
89.Skeleton of Rhinoceros tichorhinus[287]
90.Skull of cave-bear[287]
91.Skeleton of the Irish elk[288]
92.Musk-sheep[289]
93.Reindeer[290]
94.Section across Table Mountain, Tuolumne County, Cal.[294]
95.Calaveras skull[295]
96.Three views of Nampa image, drawn to scale[298]
97.Map showing Pocatello, Nampa, and the valley of Snake River[299]
98.Section across the channel of the Stanislaus River[300]
99.Diagram showing effect of precession[308]
100.Map showing course of currents in the Atlantic Ocean[314]
101.Map showing how the land clusters about the north pole[319]
102.Diagram showing oscillations of land-surface and ice-surface during the Glacial epoch[323]
103.Diagram of eccentricity and precession[333]
104.Map of the Niagara River below the Falls[334]
105.Section of strata along the Niagara Gorge[336]
106.Map showing the recession of the Horseshoe Falls since 1842[338]
107.Section of kettle-hole near Pomp’s Pond, Andover, Mass.[345]
108.Flint-flakes collected by Abbé Bourgeois[368]

MAPS.