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Historical l^emarks on Ihe first Di coveri/ of the real Structure 

 of Glacier Ice. By Professor Foiibes, Correspoiiaing 

 Member of the Royal Institute of France. 

 I feel myself most reluctantly called upon to state some cir- 

 cumstances respecting the discovery of a fact in the theory of 

 Glaciers which M. Agassiz has declared, in a paper printed in 

 the last number of the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, to 

 be erroneously claimed by me. 



The first account of " a remarkable structure of the ice of 

 glaciers,'' by myself, was printed in this Journal for January 

 1842. A history of this discovery, entirely opposed to mine, 

 appears at pages 265 and 266 of the last number. By the 

 kind permission of the Editor, I have now the opportunity 

 allowed me of stating liow the facts really stand, and at the 

 same time of explaining the circumstances under which the 

 publication of the original paper, claiming the discovery, took 

 place, — circumstances which delicacy prevented me from men- 

 tioning at the time, but which it now appears essential to make 

 known. 



Private report, proverbially exaggerates and misrepre- 

 sents the history of transactions little intcresthig to any but 

 those immediately concerned. I believe that my own con- 

 duct and its motives have been misunderstood, with refer- 

 ence to the matter in question. A few extracts from the 

 ample correspondence of which I am possessed in illustra- 

 tion of every step of the transaction, will, I hope, suffice to 

 place the matter clearly before such readers as shall feel 

 sufficient interest to follow them. I pledge myself to their 

 accuracy, and to their being fairly extracted in conformity 

 with the tenor of the letters to which they belong. If any 

 doubt shall be raised on this point, I shall have only the 

 disagreeable alternative of publishing the entire correspond- 

 ence, the length of which would render it unsuitable for 

 the pages of a scientific journal. But I repeat my belief that 

 the extracts I shall make, and the narrative with which I 

 shall connect them, will put the matter in a light sufficiently 

 clear ; and for the facts which I shall have to state, I am con- 

 scious of their admitting of no colouring or denial. 



In the first place, I shall briefly state the circumstances 



