1841-42-] STAY AT THE GLACIER OF THE AAR. 203 



for ten goats ; and the establishment, as a whole, was a 

 great improvement on the old one. Besides being built 

 on the solid ground and not on the moving median 

 moraine, it afforded a shelter, beneath which they could 

 work whenever the rain obliged them to keep in doors. 

 On the loth of July it was ready for occupancy; and 

 the same night Agassiz, Wild, Vogt, Nicolet, Desor, 

 Burkhardt, and Girard slept under the canvas-covered 

 cabin. A new member was added to the usual staff of 

 Agassiz, - - M. Wild of Zurich, who had been engaged 

 by Agassiz as a topographical engineer, to survey and 

 make a trigonometric plan of the Aar glacier. To be 

 sure, the king of Prussia, on the recommendation of 

 Humboldt, had granted nearly a thousand dollars for 

 the continuance of Agassiz's glacial work; but this 

 royal gift was soon expended, and before the campaign 

 of 1842 was over, Agassiz was more deeply in debt 

 than ever; for with him a gift, however large and 

 important, was only an occasion to expend twice and 

 three times more than he had received. 



The stay at the glacier extended from the beginning 

 of July until the middle of September, with numerous 

 excursions, one as far as Altorf to attend the meeting 

 of the Helvetic Society of Natural Sciences. Escher 

 de la Linth and Ferdinand Keller (the same who 

 twelve years after made the first discovery of the 

 lacustrine habitation of prehistoric man) were among 

 the guests who helped to make observations and experi- 

 ments on the glacier. Numerous other guests came, 

 but only as visitors and spectators. Investigations were 

 made in regard to infiltration, lamellar structure, strati- 



