THE BUET 193 



friend B^ranger and the guide known as Le Grand Jorasse. In 

 1800 a young Dane, attempting to make the ascent from Servoz, 

 lost his life by falling into a crevasse, and his monument was 

 made a tactful use of by the authorities as a means of conveying 

 a suitable warning to future travellers not to fail to follow the 

 advice of their guides. 1 



There remains yet another incident in Bourrit's literary 

 career which calls for a passing reference. Some years before the 

 attacks on Mont Blanc he rushed into a literary squabble with 

 a rival who remains an obscure but interesting figure in the 

 annals of glacier research. In 1773 the Precentor was on the 

 point of publishing his first work on the glaciers of Savoy, when, to 

 his infinite disgust, he found himself anticipated. To add insult 

 to injury, the interloper had on his title-page veiled his identity 

 under the initial 'Mr. B.' Some at least of the public naturally 

 attributed the little book, consisting for the most part of the notes 

 of a lively tourist on the round tour to Martigny, the Col de 

 Balme, and, Chamonix to Bourrit . The author was, in fact, Andr6 

 Cesar Bordier, a minister at Geneva. The first 'B.'s ' wrath knew 

 no bounds, but, far from being inarticulate, it found vent in the 

 Cercles or clubs of Geneva. Bourrit alleged that Bordier had 

 used as the basis of his work a copy of the manuscript notes he 

 Bourrit was accustomed to lend to visitors to Chamonix. That 

 one of Bordier's party had had a copy of these notes in his pocket 

 was not disputed. A critical eye can find, however, little trace in 

 Bordier's book of any substantial use having been made of them. 

 Still Bourrit, whose work was already announced, obviously had a 

 legitimate grievance in the misleading use of the common initial 

 on the title-page. He appears to have made the most of it in the 

 social ' Circles ' of the town. The pair rushed into print. Bordier 

 was stimulated into issuing a tedious pamphlet full of minute and 

 captious criticism of Bourrit's book. Bourrit retorted in another 

 written in a similar spirit. It is impossible for a modern reader to 

 peruse with any patience either of these deplorable productions. 

 The whole controversy might, indeed, well be forgotten but for 

 one very remarkable fact. Bordier in his slender and for the most 

 part slight record of a holiday trip inserted a chapter in which 



1 See Alpine Journal, vol. xiii. p. 179, for a note as to this accident and 

 Eschen's complicated nationality. 



H 



