suspended. Below this, on the floor of the cave, was a boulder, 
firmly embedded in the earth, and unaffected by the ice; 
this constituted my fixed point, a line being cut on it to 
correspond with the centre of the bob. In this way 
any movement of the staves with the ice could easily 
be measured off. The following are some of the results ob 
tained, and I would draw special attention to the fact that, 
although the valley narrows considerably towards the snout end 
of the glacier, and in consequence one would expect an increase 
in the flowing speed, the observations prove a decrease in speed 
to nearly one-third. Movement in cave from August 1 to Sep- 
tember 18, or forty nine days, max, "354 in., min. "093 in,, mean 
‘176 in. per day. (The surface movement takenat side of glacier, 
three-eizhths of a mile from snout, up the valley, amounted to 
*516 in, per day.) End of glacier receded in the same time 
19 ft., or 4°65 in. per day. Ice advanced 83 in. ; total loss in 
length 18 ft. 3} in., or nearly 4°5 in. perday. I must add that 
the point of observation was fixed at 40 ft. from the entrance, 
as beyond that and further in the cave the floor formed part 
of the glacier, and no fixed station could be found, Also, the 
surface friction of the ice on the shore—both at the side of the 
glacier, where the surface measurements were made, and at the 
cave—was considered about equal, and could therefore not account 
for the great difference of m»vement. Huco LEuPOLD 
November 10 
Arctic Research 
Wiru reference to a letter in your number of this week 
(NATURE, vol. xxv. p. 53), in which it is stated that the Arctic 
shores trending north with a western aspect, are most encum- 
bered with ice, and that those with an eas/ern aspect are most 
free from ice ; I beg to suggest that, in order that your readers 
may not be misled on a point of geographical interest, you would 
do well to insert the following extract from the writings of Sir 
Edward Parry :— 
‘«T will mention a circumstance which has particularly forced 
itself upon my notice in the course of our various attempts to 
penetrate through the ice in these regions; which is that the 
eastern coast of any portion of land, or what is the same thing, 
the western sides of seas or inlets, having a trending at all 
approaching to north and south, are, at a given season of the 
year, generally more encumbered with ice than the shores which 
have an opposite aspect. The four following may be adduced 
in illustration of this fact, and cannot but appear somewhat 
striking when considered in viewing a map which exhibits the 
relative position of the shores in question. 
‘Tt is well kn wn that, in the extensive northern sea reaching 
from latitude 65° to 80°, bounded on the east by Lapland and 
Spitzbergen, and on the west by Greenland; the whole of the 
latter coast is blocked up by ice throughout the summer, so as to 
make it at least a matter of no easy enterprise to approach it, 
while the navigation of the eastern portion of that sea may be 
easily performed without difficulty, even to a very high latitude, 
and at an early part of the season, 
known instance occurs in the navigation of Davis Strait, which, 
from about Resolution Island, in latitude 614°, to the parallel of 
at least 70, is usually inaccessible as late as the month of August, 
and a great deal of it, in summer, is not accessible at all; while 
a broad_and navigable channel is found open on the eastern side 
of the strait (that is, on the we-tern coast of Greenland) many 
weeks before that time. We experienced a third and very 
striking example of this kind in coasting the eastern shore of 
Melville Peninsula in the years 1822 and 1823, the whole of 
that coast being so loaded with ice as to make the naviza- 
tion extremely difficult and dangerous. Now, on the eastern 
side of Fox Channel, there is reason to believe, as well 
from the accouit of that navigation in 1631, and that 
of Baffin in 1615, as from our own observations, that 
there is little or no ice during the summer season. The last 
instance of the same kind which I shall mention is that of Prince 
Regent’s Inlet, and of which the events of this voyage furnish 
too striking a proof, the ice appearing always to cling to the 
western shore in a very remarkable manner, while the opposite 
coast is comparatively free from it. 
“These facts, when taken together, have long ago impressed 
me with the idea that there must exist in the Polar regions some 
general m tion of the sea towards the west, causing the ice to 
set in that direction, when not impelled by contrary winds or 
local and occasional currents, until it butts against those shores 
which are actually found to be most encumbered by it.” 
NATURE 
A second equally well- | 
[Vov. 24, 1881 
I need only add that all subsequent observation has confirmed 
the accuracy of Sir Edward Parry’s general rule; to which of 
course there are exceptions caused by the action of local currents 
and winds, CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM 
21, Eccleston Square, November 19 
Curious Formations of Ice 
DvuRING a botanical expedition recently made to Gangotri 
Glacier I noticed, early on the morning of October 6, some very 
beautiful and curious formations of ice, which must have been 
formed during the previous night. It was freezing hard when I 
left my camp, after an early breakfast. The small pools beside 
the river were completely frozen over, and the smooth boulders 
of granite were coated with thick flakes of ice, which greatly 
increased the difficulty and danger of walking. Ascending a 
steep grassy slope (a favourite feeding-ground at this time of the 
year for barhal, or Himalayan sheep), I found the ground clothed 
over with small masses of pure white ice, very like mushrooms 
at a distance ; I cannot give a better description of their general 
character than to liken them to a certain kind of thin, wafer-like 
cylindrical biscuit, which is sometimes eaten as an accompani- 
ment of ices, only they were pure white and not cylindrical, but 
rather funnel-shaped, the larger opening being uppermost. In 
most cases there were two to four of these funnels, forming 
clusters round the lower portion of the stems of a species of 
Polygonum, which was abundant in this part of the valley, in an 
extremely dried-up condition. I should be glad to know if this 
curious kind of ice structure has been observed elsewhere. 
Saharunpore, N.W.P., October 31 J. F. DuTHIE 
Meteor 
A MAGNIFICENT purple meteor was observed here on Novem- 
ber 15, at 5h. 54m. p.m. G.M.T., by the Rev. A. Corti and 
one of the assistants of the Observatory. When first seen below 
B Aurigee it was not very bright, but as it was passing through 
the constellation Lynx its brilliancy increased until it outshone 
Jupiter. Its shape was at first round, but, when it had passed 
near » Ursee, it burst into three pieces between y and x Ursa, 
the largest of the three pieces being closely followed by the other 
two, which were as bright as first-magnitude stars. They all 
disappeared} near » Urse, the total are described being more 
than 70°, The meteor was visible for seven seconds, and left a 
long train, which soon disappeared. The velocity of the meteor 
decreased gradually a it approached its bursting point. 
S. J. PERRY 
Stonyhurst Observatory, Whalley, November,17 
AT a quarter to five yesterday afternoon, when the sun had 
scarcely set and no star was visible, I and another inhabitant of 
this place saw a large blue meteor issue from a height of twenty 
degrees above the north-west horizon, and fall in a sharp curve 
for, say fifteen dezrees, until it disappeared behind some woods. 
In falling it scattered large fragments behind it, but retained its 
nucleus, beside which Mars looked quite sickly. How vivid 
must the meteoric light have been ! M. L, RousE 
Sunnymead, Chislehurst Common, November 21 
I OBSERVED a fine meteor last night at 1°3 a.m. It came into 
sight so closely in the neighbourhood of a brilliant white star, 
which I took to be Sirius, that, as it shot in an apparent straight 
line, or segment of a very large arc, across the sky, midway 
between Orion, then due south, and the horizon, the momentary 
illusion to the eye was that the star, which it equalled in magni- 
tude and brilliancy had left its place and travelled west. 
Bregner, Bournemouth, November 18 HENRY CECIL 
Axour 5.45 on the evening of the 15th inst. a meteor, larger 
than Jupiter, but nt so bright, appeared under Capella, and 
took a horizontal course, till it disappeared at about the same 
distance below the terminal star in the tail of Ursa Major, I 
never saw so long a flight. Twice in its course it disappeared or 
became very faint. Near the end it broke into two, the second 
part following the former, At any computation of its distance 
is flight in the upper regions of the atmosphere must have been 
in an enormously extended path. My son, who was with me, 
conjectured that its disappearance might be owing to its passing 
