576 BEPORT— 1889. 



and consequently a very consideraUe quantity of snow and ice, is necessary to lower 

 the melting-point of the ice only one de<rree. I think that the moat important 

 factor is the warmth produced by the pressure and friction. "When such immense 

 quantities of ice and snow as those in Greenland are in constant movement, it is 

 evident that the pressure must give rise to an enormous friction, and in this way a 

 considerable warmth must be produced. There is thus much reason to conclude 

 that the deeper we go into the ice the higher the temperature we shall find, and at a 

 certain depth the temperature of the ice must be about its melting-point, which 

 consequently is somewhat lower than the ordinary freezing-point {i.e. zero of 

 Centigrade). 



Even if we neglect the fact that the temperature of the earth's crust rises every- 

 where when we penetrate deeplv into it, it seems likely that in the depths of the 

 inland ice of Greenland, especially where the ice touches the ground underneath, 

 there is a considerable melting going on. It may be objected that nobody has 

 observed this melting or even a rise in the temperature of the ice downwards. 

 This is quite true, but good proofs that melting really goes on in the interior are 

 the rivers, which, even in the middle of the cold Greenland winter, run out under 

 the glaciers at the margin of the inland ice. I have observed such rivers myself ; 

 they were large even where there was no possibility of a melting on the surface of 

 the inland ice. 



For glacialists I think the observations made on this expedition must be of 

 great interest, and that they must contribute largely to confirm many of the glacial 

 theories. 



The careful observation of a snow and ice covering like that of Greenland is, in 

 my opinion, of great importance for the theory of the formation of valleys and 

 fjords by the ice. The ability to excavate the ground underneath must be con- 

 siderable in quantities of ice like those observed there. To me, it seems indeed 

 natural that the more we study Greenland, its coasts, and its inland ice, the more 

 convinced must we feel of the ability of the ice to form fjords and valleys to a great 

 extent. Indeed, if we attentively study on the one hand the fjords and valleys of 

 Greenland, with their many evidences of glacial influence, and on the other hand 

 the inland ice, we can be in no doubt whatever that these are in a near relation to 

 each other ; and if we turn our eyes from Greenland to Norway and Scotland, we 

 must grant that there are here similar formations. 



In meteorological respects there are some observations of great interest. The 

 very low temperature met with in the interior "will be astonishing to most meteoro- 

 logists ; it does not seem to agree with the received meteorological laws — at all 

 events, not at the first glance. The radiation of warmth from this immense snow- 

 field, in such an altitude where the air is consequently very thin, must evidently 

 have a great influence in lowering the temperature. The interior of Greenland 

 must be the coldest place on earth hitherto known ; it must be a kind of cold pole, 

 from which the winds blow towards the coasts and the sea. 



I think that this low temperature may throw a good deal of light on the much- 

 discussed question, the cause of the great cold of the Glacial Period in Europe and 

 North America, which at that time were covered with an ice-sheet similar to thai 

 we now see in Greenland. The best way of solving the problems of the Great Ice 

 Age is to go and examine the places where similar conditions are now found, and 

 no better place can be found than Greenland. But Greenland is a vast region ; our 

 •expedition was the first to cross it, but I hope it will not be the last. 



SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14. 



The foUowing Reports and Papers were read : — 



i. Report of the Committee for investigating the Flora of the Carloniferotis 

 Bocks of Lancashire and West Yorkshire — See Reports, p. 69. 



