Edward Hitchcock presented two papers at the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting held in Edinburgh, Scotland, in August of 1850. The papers are titled "On Terraces and Ancient Sea Beaches" and "Erosions of the Earth's Surface." This typescript is a report on the papers, not the papers themselves, although it appears that the writer had access to the originals. Although Hitchcock was talking primarily about the Connecticut River Valley, the paper on sea, pond, and lake beaches, and on river terraces would have been of interest to anyone at the meeting who had wondered about the Parallel Roads of Glen Roy.