[1. "The Great Ice Age," p. 72.

2. "American Cyclopædia," vol. vi, p. 112.]

{p. 15}

Again: if we suppose the supply to have existed on the Arctic coasts,
the question comes,

Would the icebergs have carried it over the face of the continents?

Mr. Croll has shown very clearly[1] that the icebergs nowadays
usually sail down into the oceans without a scrap of _débris_ of any
kind upon them.

Again: how could the icebergs have made the continuous scratchings or
striæ, found under the Drift nearly all over the continents of Europe
and America? Why, say the advocates of this theory, the icebergs
press upon the bottom of the sea, and with the stones adhering to
their base they make those striæ.

But two things are necessary to this: First, that there should be a
force great enough to drive the berg over the bottom of the sea when
it has once grounded. We know of no such force. On the contrary, we
do know that wherever a berg grounds it stays until it rocks itself
to pieces or melts away. But, suppose there was such a propelling
force, then it is evident that whenever the iceberg floated clear of
the bottom it would cease to make the strive, and would resume them
only when it nearly stranded again. That is to say, when the water