Oo 
NATURE 
[JuLy 23, 1914 
OSCILLATIONS OF FRENCH GLACIERS | A NATURE-RESERVE IN SPITSBERGEN. 
Tee part of the valuable publication issued 
by the French Government, is chiefly de- 
voted to the glaciers of Savoy, because, though 
those of the Pyrenees have been studied with the 
same thoroughness, they have not attracted so 
much notice in the past, and thus less information 
was obtainable. In Savoy also the history of the 
glaciers of the Mont Blanc range is far more com- 
plete than in the Maurienne, because, fewer than 
seventy years ago, these districts were but rarely 
visited by travellers. Careful search in the ar- 
chives and libraries of Annecy, Geneva, and 
Chamonix has discovered more than could have 
been anticipated about the history of the Mont 
Blane glaciers, and that of the Glacier du Bois 
has been traced back with fair completeness for 
more than three centuries. 
The earliest maps, restricted to northern Savoy, 
are dated 1555 and 1562, but these are practically 
worthless, and the first on which the glaciers are 
indicated is as late as 1742. They are, how- 
ever, mentioned in some detail in documents 
written in 1580 and 1605, during which time a 
notable advance of the ice evidently did serious 
damage to property in the valley of Chamonix. 
After this the information is for a time less com- 
plete, but it rapidly improves with the coming of 
travellers, and from about 1780 illustrations pro- 
vide another source. Several of them are repro- 
duced in this publication, and though often rude, 
they form valuable records of the extent of the 
ice at particular dates. The glaciers of which in- 
formation has been obtained—not in all cases 
equally complete—are six in number, and their 
oscillations show a general, though not an exact 
correspondence. Including the glaciers of the 
Maurienne, their advances and retreats indicate 
a certain periodicity. From 1605 to 1894 (inclu- 
sive) there have been seven of the former, the 
longest interval being forty-four years and the 
shortest thirty-one years, giving an average of 
forty years in 284 years; of these, the advances 
about 1610, 1716, and 1822 were exceptionally 
great, and these maxima are 106 years apart. 
Numerical correspondences are also noted between 
two other groups of oscillations, with the result 
that the figures suggest general periodicities of 
about thirty-six years, and special of three times 
that amount. 
The mean temperature and rainfall, of which 
records aré given, must produce effects on these 
movements, and it is remarkable that the former, 
between 1773 and 1860, rose steadily by 0'871°C. 
and has since then declined by 0°698° C. The re- 
mainder of the volume is devoted to glaciers in 
the Pyrenees, but we must be content to mention 
these, as the information is more imperfect, and 
only to direct attention to another part (Annexe du 
Tome v.) of the same publication, which contains 
a valuable series of maps of the hydrography of 
the river-basins of the Bréda, the Arc, and the 
Durance. Ve Gee: 
1 Ministére de l’Agriculture: Direction Générale des Eaux et Foréts. 
2® Partie, Faux et Améliorations Agricoles. Service des Grandes Forces 
Hydrauliques (Régions des Alpes et du Sud-ouest). Etudes Glaciologiques 
Savoie-Pyrénées. Tome iii., 1712. 
NO. 2334, VOL. 93| 
fy ieee question of the government of the Arctic 
isles of Spitsbergen is occupying an inter- 
national commission, and meanwhile Prof. H. 
Conwentz opportunely directs attention to the 
need for the demarcation of a Polar natural his- 
tory reserve. In the second part of vol. iv. of 
his Beitrage zur Naturdenkmalpflege, he brings 
together the views of a number of scientific men 
who have visited Spitsbergen, and points out the 
wanton destruction of reindeer, polar bears, and 
other animals, that is encouraged by many of the 
pleasure-expeditions to the north. The establish- 
ment of a recognised government would enable 
such ‘“‘sport”’ to be rigorously held in check. As 
Prof. Penck reminds us in his contribution, a 
traveller may land in summer on Spitsbergen, may 
see the antlers of reindeer and their tracks in the 
soil, and yet may never come across a single 
individual. The accessibility of Spitsbergen 
makes it especially attractive to the geologist and 
the naturalist, and the scale of its scenery pro- 
vides an admirable illustration of our own islands 
during the waning of the Quaternary ice-age. 
A complete nature-reserve is now proposed for 
the region north-west of the Ice-fjord, leaving the 
coal-mining area of Advent Bay and the whale- 
fisheries of Green Harbour in a larger area over 
which partial control may be effected. Anyone 
who has seen the fog roll like a curtain from the 
ice-flecked water, and the great panorama of 
peaks and glaciers appear as a first vision of the 
Arctic world, will assuredly give sincere support 
to those who would limit the private exploitation 
of Spitsbergen. Prof. Sapper has the foresight 
to propose the prohibition of hotels in proximity to 
glaciers of special beauty. He directs attention 
to such geographical features as the polygonal 
soils and the hillsides grooved by arid erosion, and 
to the marring effect that factories might have 
upon landscapes of such exceptional interest. We 
may add that the driving of a road across the 
boulder-clay of the von Post Glacier would deprive 
geologists of one of the most valuable “modern 
instances.”’ The conditions along the vales from 
which the ice has shrunk away are those amid 
which our palezolithic ancestors founded man’s 
dominion in European lands. If scientific workers 
seek to preserve Spitsbergen from the fate that 
has overtaken Switzerland, it is in no selfish spirit. 
but in the desire to retain for all an intellectual 
heritage. GRENVILLE A. J. COLE. 
DR. ADOLF LIEBEN. 
Sas LIEBEN, whose death occurred on June 6 
at the age of seventy-eight, was born on 
December 3, 1836, at Vienna, and was the son of 
a merchant in that city. Until the age of twelve 
his education was entrusted to the care of Moritz 
Hartmann, who was later to make a name as a 
poet. Later young Lieben began to interest him- 
self in chemistry, and attended lectures at the 
university under Redtenbacher and SchrGtter. In 
1855 he entered the University of Heidelberg, and 
worked in Bunsen’s laboratory, where he met 
