$58 Prof. Bischoff" on the Temperattire of 



will more especially take place when the glacier rests, as most of' 

 those in the high lands of Bern do, on very fractured limestone 

 rocks, in which we so frequently see rivulets disappear in the 

 upper regions and shew themselves again lower down. I have 

 witnessed many examples of this in the valley of the Liitschine 

 between Interiachen and Gr'mdelwald, on the Spital-Matte, and 

 on the Gemmi. With a little attention many more such ex- 

 amples might be discovered. Directly on the north side of the 

 heap of debris, (Gandecke) of 77 feet high, near the upper 

 Grindelwald glacier, close to the Bergclbach, I found four springs 

 whose temperatures were from 37°.4 to 38^.2, and which, as they 

 are situated 40 feet below the lower end of the glacier, certainly 

 ovfe their existence to water melted from the glacier, which flows- 

 down through clefts and underneath the glacier, from the higher, 

 regions. The low temperature of these springs, together with 

 the appearance of one on the heap of detritus itself, having a 

 temperature of 47°. 4, and which could, therefore, not proceed 

 from the glacier, are a sufficient proof of this. In former times, 

 according to Ebel,* in the year 1720, when the glaciers proba- 

 bly also covered these springs, the case now under consideration 

 must have taken place. 



In like manner, but in a higher degree, the melting of the 

 glaciers from underneath, by means of the springs which descend 

 from the lateral mountains, will take place, as we have before 

 said, when they rest upon a rock, which is almost or entirely free 

 from fissures. On the road from Gr'mdelwald to the Eismeer, 

 on the eastern declivity of the Mettenberg, I found more than 

 14 springs and brooks, which altogether carried off' a very con- 

 siderable body of water. Their temperatures varied between 

 42°.01 and 49°.3, and their mean was 45°.83. It is true that 

 several of these waters only proceeded from the rain and snow, 

 which had fallen during the last few days, and that only a few 

 of them fell under the glacier ; but there were several others, of 

 which even the oldest came down under the glacier, between the 

 ice and the side of the mountain, with a temperature of 42.°01. 

 It cannot be doubted that, even in winter, the springs which rise 

 in this space must flow under the glacier. 



' III. p. 173. 



