The Life and Writings of Agassiz. 23 



to be given, so that this glacier is better known, in a topo- 

 graphical point of view, than any canton or state. 



We cannot, of course, undertake an analysis of the results 

 obtained from all these observations, and summed up at the 

 end of each chapter. We w^ill only say, that this work, if 

 we mistake not, is to be considered as a sort of introduction 

 to a more extensive undertaking, for which the author has 

 already collected a great number of materials, and which is 

 to comprise the history of the last great revolutions which 

 the earth's surface has undergone. We understand thatM. 

 Agassiz finds in this country a vast field for research, and 

 valuable materials in the works of American geologists. 



Referring those of our readers who are desirous of parti- 

 cular information on this matter, to the above work, we con- 

 clude our sketch with a single passage of a different cha- 

 racter, from a little volume by M. Desor, entitled, " Excur- 

 sions et sejours de M. Agassiz, et de ses compagnons de 

 voyage, dans les Glaciers et les hautes regions des Alps,^** 

 containing a lively and interesting account of the incidents 

 and adventures of their mountain life, as well as of the topo- 

 graphy and scenery of the country, and from which (did our 

 limits allow) we would gladly make larger extracts. It is 

 easy to conceive, that, living in the midst of the magnificent 

 peaks by which the glacier of the Aar is surrounded, the 

 temptation to scale their dizzy heights must be strong, espe- 

 cially when fortified by a scientific intei*est. M. Desor gives 

 accounts of various ascents undertaken by their little com- 

 pany ; the most memorable of which is that of the Jungfrau, 

 which took place in 1841, having for its object the study of 

 the structure of the snow and ice on the higher summits. 

 The Jungfrau is the most admired of the Swiss mountains, 

 and, next to the Finsteraahorn, Mont Blanc, and the Monte 

 Rosa, the highest of the Alps, being 13,720 feet in eleva- 

 tion. We extract from the above-mentioned work some 



* Neufchatel and Paris, 1844, 18mo. For many interesting details, among 

 others, the account of a descent into one of the crevasses of the glacier, to 

 examine its structure, see an article by M. Agassiz himself, in the Edinburgh 

 New Philosophical Journal for 1842. 



