Hot and T/wrinul Springs. 361 



The scientific zeal o^ Mr Ziegler, the pastor of Grindelwald, 

 and tlie observations so readily undertaken by him, and to which 

 we shall return in Chap. XVIII. have enabled me to add to the 

 alwve something more satisfactory. To his observations on the 

 temperature of the soil, made at the depth of four feet near the 

 lower glacier of Grindelwald, Mr Ziegler added observations on 

 the melting of the glacier itself during the last winter. The for- 

 mer will not render us anv assistance until next September, when 

 tlie yearly series will be finished, but the latter has already yield- 

 ed some very valuable results. 



Temperature of the Soil. 

 1835, 



Sept. 2.3. 39M. 



Oct. 27- 35°.8. The temperature of the air inside the ice-grotto, close to the 

 ice was 37°.8. The glacier melted away almost imperceptibly. The 

 water which issued from the cavern was perfectly clear. 



Dec. 2. 33°.3. South-west wind (called in Switzerland Fohn) ; the temperature 

 of the air close to thp glacier was 45°.5 ; the glacier melted away. 



Dec- 28. 32°.7. The temperatureof the -ScAaicr^ei/WfacAJne under the ice, near 

 the Mettenberg Bridge, was 32°.2. The severe cold, which continued 

 through the whole of December, began on the 6th. From this time no 

 more melting of the glacier could be perceived ; indeed the water, which, 

 on the 2d December, and perhaps for a few days afterwards, was clear 

 and of a greenish colour, and which probably proceeded, as is the general 

 opinion of the inhabitants of the place, from the brooks and springs, 

 which throw themselves into the glacier above, was frozen to the bottom. 

 This was observed, not only in a hole under the ice, which the inhabitants 

 of a neighbouring cottage had made in the first covering of ice for the 

 sake of obtaining water, but also in the ice-grotto itself, where Mr 

 Ziegler had the ice broken up with a pick -axe, in order to ascertain the 

 fact. 

 1836, 



March 1. .32°. 2. About the middle, of February a rapid thaw took place, which 

 lasted several days, and some persons assured Mr Ziegler that water ran 

 from the glacier during that time ; but it soon froze again to the bottom, 

 and on the 1st March not a trace of water was to be seen. 



April 4. 33°. I. Still no water made its appearance; and even on the 14th of 

 April, the covering of ice and snow over the glacier stream was not bro- 

 ken, although there were frequent thaws throughout the month of March, 

 and in the first half of April there fell a great deal of rain mixed with 

 snow. Mr Ziegler, however, suspected that the water would soon burst 

 violently forth, and overflow its customary channel. 



These observations of Mr Ziegler's corroborate the informa- 

 tion obtained from the inhal)itan(s of Grindelwald. They prove 



