508 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817- 



repast being finished, I was soon 

 asleep J but in a few hours I was 

 awakened with a tormenting pain 

 in my face and eyes. My face was 

 one continued blister, and my eyes 

 I was unable to open; nor was 1 

 without apprehensions of losing 

 my sight for ever, till my guides 

 told me that if I had condescended 

 to have taken their advice of wear- 

 ing, as they did, a mask of black 

 crape, the accident would not have 

 befallen me, but that a few days 

 would perfectly restore the use of 

 my eyes. After I had bathed them 

 with warm water for half an hour, 

 I found to my great satisfaction 

 that I could open them a little, on 

 which I determined upon an in- 

 stant departure, that I might cross 

 the Glaciere de la Cote before the 

 sun was sufficiently high for its 

 beams to be strongly reflected 

 from the snow. But unluckily 

 the sun was already above the 

 horizon ; so that the pain of forc- 

 ing open my eyes in the bright 

 sunshine, in ordei- to avoid tlie 

 chasms, and other liazards of my 

 way, rendered my return more 

 irksome than my ascent. Fortu- 

 nately one of the guides, soon 

 after I had passed the glaciere, 

 picked up in the snow a pair of 

 green spectacles, whii;h M. Bour- 

 rit had lost, and which gave me 

 wonderful relief. 



At eleven o'clock on Aug. 10, 

 after an absence of 52 hours, of 

 which 20 were passed in the hut, 

 I returned again to the village of 

 Chamouni. From the want of 

 instrunaents (the scale of the baro- 

 meters I had, being graduated no 

 lower than 20 inches, which was 

 not sufficiently extended) the ob- 

 servations I made were but few. 

 Yet the effects which the air in 



the heights I visited produced on 

 the human body may not perhaps 

 be considered as altogether unin- 

 teresting, nor will the proof I 

 made of the power of the lens on 

 the summit of Mount Blanc, if 

 confirmed by future expei'iments, 

 be regarded as of no account in 

 the theories of light and heat. At 

 any rate, the having determined 

 the latitude of Mount Blanc may 

 assist in some particulars the ob- 

 seivations of such persons as shall 

 visit it in future ; and the know- 

 ledge which my journey has afford- 

 ed, in addition to that which is 

 furnished by M. de Saussure, may 

 facilitate the ascent of those who, 

 with .proper instruments, may 

 wish to make in that elevated level 

 experiments in natural philosophy. 



Notes of a Mineralogical Excursion 

 to the Giant's Causewiy. By the 

 Rev. Dr. Grierson, 



(From the same.) 



I left Coleraine on the morning 

 of* Sept. 17, in company with a 

 gentleman of that place, whose 

 obligingness, intelligence, hospi- 

 tality, and kindness, afforded me 

 a most agreeable specimen of the 

 Irish character ; and proceeded to 

 the Giant's Causeway. The day 

 was charming ; and it is not easy 

 for me to express the gratification 

 I felt, as we made our way 

 through a fine and gently varied 

 district, at the idea of having it in 

 my power soon to contemplate in 

 favoiuable circumstances one ,of 

 the most stupendous and interest- 

 ing natural phenomena that are 

 any where to be seen. From Co- 

 leraine 1o the Causeway is eight 



mile* 



