i8 95 . THE STUDY OF EXISTING GLACIERS. ig 



adopted without opposition, and Prince Roland Bonaparte removed 

 the only serious difficulty by offering to take the necessary expenses 

 upon himself. The committee consists, so far, of the following 

 members, besides whom it is intended to be completed by represen- 

 tatives of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Russia and Italy: — 



Austria Professor Dr. S. Richter . . . . Graz. 



France Prince Roland Bonaparte . . Paris. 



Germany Professor Finsterwalder . . . . Munich. 



Great Britain Captain Marshall-Hall . . . . Easterton Lodge, Park- 

 stone, Dorset. 



Switzerland Professor F. A. Forel .. .. Morges. 



United States of America Professor Dr. F. Reid . . . . Baltimore. 



Professor Forel is the organising secretary ; the committee is em- 

 powered to make its own regulations, and is to report to the general 

 committee of the next Congress, wherever that may be held. The 

 late Tsar invited the Congress to St. Petersburg ; but whether that 

 invitation will be renewed by his successor remains to be seen. 



So far the Glacier Committee has not had time to arrange further 

 details than those here mentioned. But, at any rate, a tolerably 

 complete machinery exists, since each country has the means of 

 reporting on its own matters without any outside. interference ; whilst 

 it is to be hoped that, once in several years, a comparative statement 

 of ice-history may be published in one volume. Of course the cordial 

 cooperation of the various Alpine Clubs is important, and there is 

 every reason to expect it. The Glacialists' Association may also 

 contribute. But it is to be hoped that we may be recruited by younger 

 men, to whom we suggest that many branches of this enquiry open 

 comparatively new ground, as, for instance, the motion of neve-. And 

 the names of men coming promptly to the front, like Messrs. Harper, 

 Douglas, and Brodrick, of the New Zealand Alpine Club, are not 

 likely soon to be forgotten. 



Some examples of the kind of work accomplished or suggested 

 may be of service. 



In a short paragraph, the Alpine Journal for November, 1894, 

 mentions some important facts, which will be given with more detail 

 in the May number. One thing bears upon a theory which the 

 Rev. J. F. Blake recently brought before the British Association, to 

 the effect that the bottom layers of a glacier are squeezed out in 

 advance of the higher ones. Messrs. Harper and Douglas report that 

 in the Franz Josef glacier the upper ice is pushing over the lower, and 

 overlapping and breaking off at the terminal face ; and in support 

 of this statement they send photographs. The same gentlemen have 

 carried out measurements to ascertain the speed of ice-movement at 

 different levels. This has also been done for glaciers in the Canter- 

 bury district by Mr. T. N. Brodrick. 



Again, Professor Forel thinks that the cycle of increase and 



diminution in the size of a glacier may be somewhere about thirty-five 



c 2 



