THE VARIATIONS OF GLACIERS. XV 1 



HARRY FIELDING REID 



Johns Hopkins University 



The following is a summary of the Fourteenth Annual Report 

 of the International Committee on Glaciers. 2 



REPORT OF GLACIERS FOR 1908 



Swiss Alps. — Of the ninety glaciers which were measured in 

 1908, fifty-three are in undoubted or probable retreat, one is 

 certainly advancing, and thirteen are possibly advancing. The 

 retreat, therefore, is general. Certain small glaciers have for 

 some years shown signs, more or less definite, of advance. Short 

 glaciers respond more quickly than long ones to the changes in 

 snow-fall, and may make a number of small variations which are 

 not indicated by large glaciers. 3 



Eastern Alps. — A large part of the observations on the glaciers 

 of the Eastern Alps were carried out under the auspices and at 

 the expense of the German and Austrian Alpine Club. 



The general retreat was dominant between 1907 and 1908, as it 

 has been for several years past. Only a single glacier, the Wansee- 

 ferner, in the Oztetal, has advanced; its advance amounted to 15 

 meters. The other glaciers showed retreats amounting in some 

 cases to 23 meters. 4 



Italian Alps. — The observations of the Italian glaciers were all 

 the results of private enterprise. All the glaciers observed on the 

 south side of the Alps, were apparently in retreat, except possibly 

 a few in the Maritime Alps, which, seen from a distance, had appar- 

 ently enlarged slightly; but this observation is doubtful. 5 



French Alps. — Many observations on the snow-fall and varia- 



1 The earlier reports appeared in the Journal of Geology, Vols. III-XVII. 



2 Zeitschrift fur Gletscherkunde (1910), IV, 161-76. 

 . 3 Report of Professor Forel and M. Muret. 



4 Report of Professor Bruckner. 



5 Report of Professor Marinelli. 



