;5« 



NA TURE 



[AL"GU^ 



I S96 



R^ 



ITALIAN SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION TO 

 MONTE ROSA. 



I EFEKKINC U) the Idler published in Nature (No. 1307, 



*■ November 19, 1894), we have been able this year to 

 complete our researches on the waters of the Monte Rosa from 

 the highest summit down to the glacial streams and lakes at 

 about 2000 metres above the sea level.' Having carried up 

 to our laboratory on the Lavez Alp (2450 m.) a good analytical 

 balance, some quantitative determinations could be made on 

 the spot. As might be anticipated, the amount of suspended 

 matter in the water of the streams issuing immediately from the 

 glaciers varies considerably not only on diflerent days, but even 

 m the same day. While on a cold, snowy day (August 3), 

 the water of the Indren torrent contained o-oi I gr. (per litre) 

 of sandy detritus, sixty times as much (o-66 gr.) was found 

 on August 10, on an exceedingly warm, sunny day. On a 

 regular summer day, with a mean temperature, the amount of 

 suspended matter in the Indren waters varies from o-oio gr. m 

 the early morning to o 09 gr. in the afternoon. 



This matter is composed of two kinds of sand : one coarser, 

 which sinks to the bottom in a few hours, and can be severed at 

 once by filtering ; and a subtler one, which remains permanently 

 suspended in the waters, passes through the paper, and may 

 only be determined by allowing the water to evaporate and ex- 

 tracting the residue with distilled water to dissolve the soluble 

 salts. The ratio of the two kinds of suspended sand varies with the 

 temperature ; the finer one being very scarce, about I4'3 per cent, 

 of the total amount on an average day, rising to 42*0 percent, when 

 the heat is very great, and when the melting of the ice proceeds 

 with great intensity and speed. This seems to indicate a dif- 

 ferent" origin of the two constituents; the coarse sand being 

 perhaps spread over the surface of the ice fields, and the fine 

 one being enclosed within the glacial masses. 



In winter the melting of the glaciers is considerably reduced, 

 and the waters of the Lys, which drain the valley of Gressoney, 

 are nearly clear and transparent. 



The amount of dissolved matter— the so-called fixed residue— 

 in the different waters is shown in the following table. 



Milligr. 

 per litre. 



16 '9 



139 



8-8 



1-6 



27 '2 



231 



30-8 

 i6-i 



Loose, granular ice of the Tunta Gnifetti (Signal 

 Kuppe 4561 111.) ■•■ •■• ■•■_, 



Compact ice of a crevasse at the foot of the Vincent 

 Pyramid (3700 m.) 



Compact ice near the Capanna Gnifetti (ab. 3600 m. ) 



Surface ice of the Garstelet glacier (3300 111. ) 



Water of the Salzia lake (2670 m. ) 



Water of the Gabiet lake (2339 m.) 



,, ,, Sella spring (about 2250 m. ) 



,, ,, Indren torrent (about 2400 111. ) ... 



,, ,, ,, (on a hot day) ... ■.. 21 2 



The water obtained from the melting of the ice of the glaciers 

 is the purest of all, in some instances nearly as pure as distilled 

 water. It is very interesting to remark that the amount of dis- 

 solved salts in the samples taken in the same glacier, and even 

 in the same spot, is never constant ; this shows that the diflerent 

 snow and ice streams which descend from the buttresses of the 

 mountain to form one great ice river, while compressed side by 

 side with the others, still retain their own individuality, and are 

 not confounded together in a uniform mass. 



The residues of the waters consisted of sodium and calcium, 

 together with sulphuric and hydrochloric acid ; sulphate of lime 

 was prevalent in the lakes and in the Sella spring, the latter 

 showed akso the presence of carbonates. Iron (dissolved) was 

 found in traces here and there in the ice-waters. The sus- 

 pended matter (sand) consisted of silicates with a large amount 

 of iron. 



As stated in my letter already referred to, the ice of Monte 

 Rosa contains small quantities of ammonia ; the maximum, of 

 03 milligr. per litre, was found in a block of ice at the foot 

 of the great Glacier du Lys, about 2150 111. The waters ol 

 streams, lakes, and springs show no ammonia ; only during a 

 very hot day the waters of the Indren, whicli were turbid with 

 an unusual amount of sand, contained a little ammonia, which 

 disappeared in a few hours ; the oxygenated compounds of 

 nitrogen (nitrates and nitrites) were absent in every case. 



I Cinrnalc ddta. R. Auademia di Mcdkina di Torino, ;iniio Iviii. 

 fasc. 11, 32 l>p. 



NO. 1398, VOL. 54] 



Muntz and Aubin, as well as Boussingault, came to the same 

 results from the analyses of the meteoric and telluric waters 

 collected above or a little below 3000 metres. The absence of 

 nitric and nitrous com|)ounds in the waters of these heights is 

 perhaps to be explained by the mean elevation of thunderstorms, 

 which generally do not reach the 3000 metres in our zone, and 

 to which the synthesis of those compounds from the elements of 

 the atmosphere is mainly due. But many more accurate meteoro- 

 logical and chemical observations are necessary to confirm this 

 hypothesis on a solid ground. 



Anioni; the interesting results of our expedition was the dis- 

 covery of a substance having all the characters of the cryoconite 

 as described by Nordenskidld, who first discovered and named it. 

 A fine, black, soot-like, light dust, lying at the bottom of lili- 

 putian wells closely spread over the surface of the ice, was col- 

 lected on the G.arstelet glacier, and migln perhaps be found on 

 every flat ice-field whose surface is free from the impetuous little 

 rivulets wliich wash and carry away everything that come in 

 their way. 



An imniediate analysis of the cryoconite could not be made ; 

 I sealed the dust up on the spot in little glass buttles, which were 

 opened later in my laboratory in Turin, when I found that putre- 

 factive processes had taken place ; gases, traces of skatol (or indol) 

 together with a fatty (butyric ?) acid had been formed, and the 

 iron — which might have been originally in a metallic condition — 

 was dissolved as ferrous salt, showing the want of oxygen in the 

 air of the bottle. 



The presence of organic living matter in the cryoconite is 

 confirmed by the results of an examination of the cryoconite 

 made by Dr. Belli, of the Botanic Institute : he found in the 

 cryoconite : — 



Algit : (DintomOiCex). Ptitnii/aria sp., A'aricii/a sp., Fnis- 

 tulia sp. (?) 

 (Cyanophycea;) Osiillaria, sp. 



(Chlorophyceoe) Pleurococcus sp., Chioococius sp., 

 Hematococcus pluvialis, Kli. 

 Fungi ( Bacteriace^) Bacillus sp. , Bacterium sp. 



,, (.\scomycetes) spores with echinated episporium, difficult 

 to be determined. 

 Gymnospernue — Pollen of Conifera; (Abietinea: ?) 



Besides pappi of Compbsita; (?) or of Graminaceie or Cyper- 

 acciv, threads iir trychoms belonging to feathery seeds {Suli\ , 

 Epilohiuin, Clematis (?). 



Of the cryoconite 16 per cent, is organic matter, 3 '5 per cent, 

 iron, and the remnant detritus of diflerent minerals. 



A study of the distribution of micro-organisms in the ice and 

 waters of Monte Rosa has also been made, and will be shortly 

 published. Piero Giacosa. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCA IIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Mr. F. W. Burstall, Demonstrator of Mechanical Engin- 

 eering at King's College, London, has been appointed Professor 

 of Civil and Mechanical Engineering at Mason College, 

 Birmingham. 



The London University Commission Bill, which would have 

 passed through the House of Commons this session if all parties 

 had been willing to permit it, has been withdrawn, the Church 

 parly having claimed the insertion of a clause embodying a 

 fragment of the Tests Act. 



The action of the North Riding of Vnrkshire in adding 

 millinery to the list of technical sulijects aided by the funds at 

 their disposal, can hardly be commended. It was not for the 

 purpose of teaching such empirical arts as this, that the Technical 

 Instruction Acts were passed. 



There does not seem to be a great demand for instruction in 

 technical subjects in Cambridgeshire. At the recent meeting of 

 the County Council a comparative failure of the lectures in 

 agriculture had to be reported, and, following this, one member of 

 the Technical Instruction Committee was understood to say that 

 he supposed the money must be got rid ol, but that he did not 

 think it would do sixpennyworth of good ! There yet remains 

 much for the advocates of the teaching of natural science to do. 

 Among recent announcements we notice the following : — Dr. 

 Schleierniacher to be Professor of Electro-technics in the Tech- 

 nical High School at Karlsruhe; Dr. Schuberg to be Extra- 

 ordinary Professor of Zoology in Heidelberg University ; Dr. 



