216 M. Charpentier on the Glaciers of the Canton Vallais. 



smoothed by rubbing against one another, yet we find occa- 

 sionally on the ridges of the glaciers single large blocks which 

 have reached the foot of the glacier without any rubbing what- 

 ever, and which are therefore in a perfectly fresh condition. 

 By these facts we can explain in what way some large alpine 

 blocks have been removed and deposited at great distances 

 without having suffered any rubbing or smoothing of their 

 angles or edges. 



Moraines have the form of dams or walls with one or with 

 several crests. In some cases they have a conical form, or pre- 

 sent a row of small conical hills. When a glacier has, as is 

 generally the case, several moraines, these are parallel to one 

 another ; and the surface of the separating spaces is of naked 

 rock, or rock covered by a little earth, a few stones, or strewed 

 blocks. The external form of the moraines^ and the relative 

 position of several of them belonging to the same glacier, are 

 almost identical with the respective form and position of de- 

 posits of erratic blocks. 



Glaciers never produce moraines in the form of spreading 

 and flat or fan-shaped alluvial masses, such as are deposited 

 from running water ; for glaciers penetrate to the fixed rock and 

 carry before them all the existing earth, stones, and blocks, a 

 fact well known to all those who have observed glaciers during 

 their progress, and which is easily explained by their manner 

 of advancing and increasing in size. This property of glaciers 

 to penetrate to the fixed rock, and thus form and clear for 

 themselves a path, explains to us perfectly why our lakes have 

 not been filled by the enormous mass of blocks, rubbish, and 

 sand which have taken their course through, or, to speak more 

 correctly, over them, a result which must necessarily have oc- 

 curred had those materials been transported by water. 



The internal mass of a glacier consists of ice or rather of 

 frozen snow in a pure state, without any mixture of earth or 

 stones. When blocks fall through a fissure to the bottom of 

 the glacier, they are rolled or pushed forwards. If they re- 

 main hemmed in between the walls of the fissure, they appear 

 again after the lapse of a certain period of timej^on the surface 

 of the glacier, but at a point further down the valley than 



