144 VISCOUS THEORY OF GLACIER MOT TON. [184C, 



own footing he forgets, I say, in the midst of all these claims 

 upon his attention, his curiosity, and his strength of mind, the 

 comparatively large surfaces of unbroken ice over which he 

 heedlessly walks, and the small, the very small depth, at which 

 most of the yawning crevasses which make such an impression 

 on his imagination, dwindle into mere slits ; and when his 

 walk is finished, he imagines that a glacier is a mere network 

 of fissures interlacing in all directions. But let him gain a 

 bold height above its surface, 800 to 1000 feet at least,* so 

 that the whole may be spread somewhat like a map before 

 him, yet not too distant to prevent his seeing the number and 

 forms of the crevasses, and estimating their area compared to 

 that of the unbroken ice, his opinion is first shaken and then 

 changed. He sees in the glacier a whole, which, regarded as 

 such, is merely scarred, not dissected by these fissures ; he 

 sees a mass as capable at least of conveying strains as thrusts ; 

 of which the cohesion is no more destroyed than (to use a 

 comparison which I long ago employed) a parchment sieve is 

 incapable of being stretched because it is covered with fine 

 slits. 



I am confident that this will be plain to every unprejudiced 

 person who will make the observation which 1 have recom- 

 mended, and I have no hesitation in stating my belief that it 

 will be found to be fully confirmed by M. Wild's map of the 

 glacier of the Aar, should it ever be published; I say so without 

 having any recollection how the matter stands, although I once 

 had an opportunity of seeing that fine work for a few minutes ; 

 and the verification of this remark, by positive measurement, 

 will, so far as I see, be the chief result likely to flow from 



* I may mention, as the very best stations which I am acquainted with, the 

 summit or higher slopes of the hill of Charmoz ahove Montanvert, Station G*, 

 above Trelaporte, and a point directly above the Couvercle at least 1200 feet 

 higher than the Mer de Glace, which may easily be reached from the glacier of 

 Talefre. Other glaciers offer of course similar points, but few so advantageous ; 

 the glacier of the Aar from the Schneebighorn, the lower glacier of Grindelwald 

 from the slopes of the Mettenberg, the glacier of the Khone from near the Mayen- 

 wand, and that of Zermatt from the Eiffelberg, are examples. 



