22 NATURAL SCIENCE. Jan.. 1895. 



" Should time and circumstances permit, a series of observations 

 of the velocity of the ice is of value. These may be made after 

 Tyndall's method, by planting a line of sticks across the glacier, or by 

 painting marks on boulders, the position of which relatively to as- 

 certained points on the mountain-side has been accurately fixed. 

 The size of the glacier, that is, the area of its basin and its length, as 

 well as the slope of its bed above, as well as at the point measured, 

 should be noted. The rate of movement of the ice appears to be 

 connected both with the volume of the glacier and the inclination of 

 its bed." 



With regard to the suggestion in the last paragraph it will be as 

 well to caution surveyors that, if stakes are made use of, they should 

 be of good size and planted deeply ; surface ablation is rapid in hot 

 weather, and Herr Escher von der Linth, having, on July 8, 1841, 

 inserted stakes in holes 3 feet deep on the Aletsch Glacier, found, 

 on August 16 (39 days later), all the stakes fallen, and no trace of 

 the holes. Where available, rocks on the glacier surface, even though 

 not likely to be in a straight line, are the best for surveying purposes. 

 Even they have a bad habit of tumbling into crevasses. 



Those who are not experts and who may wish for a few further 

 simple suggestions as to procedure and instruments, will find them in 

 an article by the writer of this, in the Alpine Journal for February, 

 1891, no. in. Not further to multiply these details, it is evident 

 how much there is to be done. And it is also an evident duty for 

 Alpine Clubs, for the International committee, and indeed for all 

 bodies that can influence observers, to systematise the methods em- 

 ployed, leaving of course a perfectly free hand on all matters outside 

 the forms that they may draw up. 



More need not be said to urge the importance and the interest of 

 this study. But, besides all this, there is a constant pleasure in 

 the questioning of Nature amid her most glorious scenes, which is by 

 no means confined to the professedly scientific tourist. The interest 

 grows with each day's excursion, while the shorter scrambles, which 

 alone are prudent in unsettled weather, vary the holiday of the hard- 

 working climber after a fashion that becomes more and more 

 fascinating as day after day passes. Then, after the return home, 

 recollections crowd upon one, and the light of past experience is 

 thrown upon many a problem which had before appeared to be too 

 obscure to solve. 



Marshall-Hall. 



