PAPERS 



ON 



THE THEORY OF GLACIERS, 



I. ON A REMARKABLE STRUCTURE OBSERVED BY 

 THE AUTHOR IN THE ICE OF GLACIERS. 

 (Read to the Royal Society, Edinburgh, Dec. 6, 1841).* 



Obscurity of the Theory of Glacier Formation Ribboned Structure described Its 

 Course traced on the Glaciers of the Aar and Rhone Probably perpendicular 

 to Lines of greatest Pressure Also perpendicular to Fissures or Crevasses 

 Analogy to Slaty Cleavage in Rocks Physical Cause of both perhaps similar, f 



THE object of the present short communication is little more 

 than to announce and describe a peculiarity which the Ice of 

 Glaciers frequently exhibits, interesting in itself as connected 

 with the theory of their formation and propagation, and per- 

 haps having a bearing upon the explanation of some facts long 

 felt by geologists to be perplexing. 



Had I yielded to my own first impulse, this communication 

 would have formed but a part of a much more extensive one, 

 intended to give such an account, as I best might, of the pre- 

 sent views entertained respecting the mechanism and conser- 

 vation of glaciers, and the curious and interesting question of 

 their ancient extension, and perhaps vast geological influence 

 in producing some of the latest evidences of revolution on the 

 surface of the globe. When I considered, however, the great 



* Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal for January 1842. 

 j- [The contents have been added in this reprint.] 



