18 NATURAL SCIENCE. Jan., 



a bearing, as yet unestimated, on sundry astronomical questions, 

 which need not be discussed here. 



It was with a sense of the value of such a study in different 

 countries, a study which may, somewhat barbarously, be termed 

 Comparative Glaciology, that a futile attempt was made in 1890 to 

 induce the British Association to create a committee (without any 

 money grant) for the study of glaciers in Canada, New Zealand, the 

 Himalayas, and other districts under what we now-a-days term 

 British influence. 



Although nothing came of this, it was not long before an appeal 

 was made to the Alpine Club, a body not professedly or exclusively 

 scientific, but including men perfectly capable of taking part in such 

 investigations. Fortunately the President, Mr. Douglas W. Fresh- 

 field, happens to be a man distinguished in the annals not only of 

 pleasant climbing, but of exploration, and notably as a pioneer in 

 the Caucasus, while he is at the same time Secretary of the Royal 

 Geographical Society. He took the matter before the committee of 

 the Alpine Club, and a committee of three resulted, of whom one 

 member was requested to undertake, for the Alpine Journal, the pre- 

 paration of an epitome of such information as should be collected. 

 Mr. Freshfield also, as President, drew up a memorandum asking for 

 records and observations, and drawing attention in a very able and 

 well considered manner to those points upon which information 

 seemed to be most needed. This memorandum is reprinted towards 

 the close of the present article, in the hope that it may reach a yet 

 wider circle of readers. 



Our Colonial Office was next applied to for help, and especially 

 asked to transmit copies to Colonial Governments, for the purpose of 

 securing local cooperation on the part of officials, surveyors, and 

 travellers. A favourable reply was sent, and these requests complied 

 with. It is as yet too soon for much to have been done, except in one 

 notable case, that of New Zealand. There the circular arrived and 

 was distributed through the authorities in time for the exploring 

 season ; whereas in this Northern Hemisphere summer work was 

 over for the year. As a result, several New Zealand glaciers have 

 already been surveyed, and points have been trigonometrically 

 determined with a view to recording motion and variation in mass. 

 Indeed, in more than one instance actual observations have already 

 been sent us ; and materials exist for an interesting report in the 

 Alpine Journal. These are referred to later on in this article. 



Something of a beginning having been made as regards what 

 one may term "English-speaking" glaciers, the next step was to 

 address the International Geological Congress at its recent meeting 

 in Zurich. The idea was that each nation concerned should be 

 represented by some one charged with organising and reporting in 

 his own country, and that the reports should be issued in collected 

 form. The scheme, ably seconded by Professor F. A. Forel, was 



