270 Ice and its Natural History 



a Winterreise in das Eismeer, and who carried it out with 

 such attention to detail as to have the two principal glaciers 

 which were fed by the Eismeer on which he was going to 

 sojourn for a fortnight kept under observation during the 

 whole winter. 



In comparing my observation of the striation of the 

 glacier by the rock with that of Hugi, it will be noticed 

 that his was made in January, the coldest month of winter, 

 and in the year 1832, when the glaciers were in the plenitude 

 of their power, while mine was made in August, the hottest 

 month of summer, in the year 1895, when almost all the 

 glaciers of Switzerland were, and had for long been in an 

 advanced state of decay, the Glacier des Bossons forming, 

 as it turned out, a temporary exception. Owing to the high 

 external temperature, I was obliged to creep into the inner- 

 most part of the glacier in order to observe the relatively 

 slight effect of the agency, which, in Hugi's case, produced 

 such a striking effect in the broad light of day. But, not- 

 withstanding the fact that the advance of the Glacier des 

 Bossons which I witnessed in 1895 was slight and temporary, 

 it sufficed to show me the fundamental difference between 

 the effects produced by a glacier on its surroundings, ac- 

 cording as it is on the increase or on the decrease. When 

 it is growing, the glacier is a living bearer of energy like a 

 river ; when it is shrinking, it is inert as a salt lake. 



It has been noticed by those who have observed the 

 occasional advance of European glaciers in recent years, 

 that there is little that is gradual about their start. They 

 get under way at once at a fair speed, and proceed without 

 delay in the work of handling the debris that has accumulated 

 in front of them during their repose. When a glacier is really 

 advancing, there is no doubt about it ; where there is doubt, 

 it may be taken that the advance has not begun. 



External Work of a Glacier. Owing to the enormous 

 diminution in the amount of land-ice in the course of the 

 last half-century, we are accustomed to talk of the retreat 

 of the glaciers. But a glacier never retreats ; it stops ad- 

 vancing, and melts where it stands. Even in a stationary 



