560 THE LIFE OF JAMES D. FORBES. [APPEND. 



* Jugez maintenant si j'ai dfi etre surpris de vos reclamations l et si j'etais en 

 droit d'y r^pondre comme je 1'ai fait. N'ayant pas Phabitude de 'tenir un 

 journal r^gulier des moindrcs particularity des observations que je fais, et 

 adressant dans nos societes scientifiques toutes mes communications de vive 

 voix, ces faits ne me sont revenus h moi-meme avec les circonstances acces- 

 soires que lorsque mes amis me les ont rappeleaf 



# # * # # 



Neufchdtel, 28 Avril, 1842.' 



After receiving the preceding letter, I gave up all thoughts of 

 attempting to convince M. Agassiz respecting the history of this 

 or indeed of any, scientific question. In the course of a few 

 months, he had entertained four different opinions respecting 

 the authorship of the discovery in question, and still, I suppose, 

 has some doubt as to whether he discovered it himself in 1838, 

 or only in 1841 ; or whether he learned it from M. Guyot at 

 Porrentruy, or from me at the Glacier of the Aar. 



The structure in question, which is common to every glncier 

 in which I have looked for it, is in some so exceedingly sti ik- 

 ing, that it would seem impossible to escape notice. Such, for 

 instance, is the case with a glacier of great beauty and extent, 

 and which is remarkable from being almost touched by a 

 frequented mule-road, whence the structure is admirably seen, 

 I mean the glacier of La Brenva, near Courmayeur. That it 

 has not been described by any of the modern writers on glaciers, 

 De Saussure, De Charpentier, Hugi, Agassiz, or Godefroy, is 

 certainly a most convincing proof of how long the most evident 

 and important facts may remain practically unnoticed. It can 

 hardly be doubted that it must have been casually seen by these 

 intelligent persons, who have traversed such a vast extent of 

 glacier surface ; but certainly every principle of interpretation 

 leads us to the conclusion that it was not observed in such a 

 way as facts must be to enter within the pale of science, since no 

 trace of it is to be found in any of their writings on this very 

 subject. I have it on the authority of three eminent persons in 

 England, France, and Switzerland, all men of science, much 

 travelled, and much observing, that, upon reading my account, 

 they recognized what they could distinctly recall having seen on 

 the glaciers which they had visited, though they never attempted 

 to generalize the observation, or to attach theoretical importance 

 to it. 



1 Of course I maintain that he had no right whatever to be surprised, since 

 it appears from the following sentence that he was equally ignorant with 

 myself of what he had himself done in 1838, until receiving M. Dubois' li 

 dated the day before this was written : l Ces faits ne me sont reven* 



'".' lorsque mes amis me h* 

 rapp 



