Beport of the Besearches of M. Agassiz, 153 



factory manner, by the account given of the experiments on 

 infiltration in a former article.* Hence, it has now been de- 

 monstrated, that during the summer the whole mass of the 

 glacier is thoroughly imbued with water at all depths to which 

 we have hitherto reached ; but in a manner somewhat un- 

 equal, according to the character of the ice, the state of the 

 atmosphere, and the epochs and hours at which the observa- 

 tions are made. 



After this, is it not astonishing to observe that a naturalist 

 has recently affirmed that he has satisfied himself by direct 

 experiment, not only that the glacier does not imbibe water, 

 but, also, that it does not even contain moisture \ The fol- 

 lowing is the experiment : M. Hugi, for he is the individual 

 in question, caused a canal or tunnel, 10 feet long, 3 inches 

 high, and from 7 to 9 inches wide, to be excavated beneath a 

 pool of water which he found on the surface ; into this tunnel 

 he introduced several tin-boxes, filled with the chloride of lime 

 and other matters, which have a great attraction for water, 

 the lids of the boxes being pierced with holes, and the mouth 

 of the tunnel being carefully closed. After remaining about 

 fourteen hours, it was found that the boxes had scarcely in- 

 creased in weight, whilst similar ones exposed in the open air 

 had become much heavier. Hence it was that M. Hugi con- 

 cluded that there was no moisture in the glacier \ But M. Vogt 

 has already answered this argument, by remarking, that it is 

 quite natural that water, at the temperature of zero (32° F.), 

 enclosed within a narrow compass, should not disengage much 

 vapour ; and that if M. Hugi had introduced a sponge instead 

 of the chloride of lime into his tunnel, he would have found it 

 soaked with water derived from its icy walls. I should not 

 have alluded to this experiment, had it not been made by a 

 naturalist who has travelled extensively over the glaciers. 

 Moreover, it is the only experiment which M. Hugi mentions 

 in his last work. 



Observations regarding the advance of the Glacier. — The mea- 

 sures which were begun by M. Hugi at the glacier of the Aai', 

 and prosecuted by M. Agassiz during the eai'lier years of his 



* See Bil)l. Univ. ; Mars 1843 (Tome xliv.), p. 131 ; and this Journal, vol. xxxv. 

 p. 290. 



