460 HARRY FIELDING REID 



of Professor Finsterwalder, who, as retiring president in 1903, laid 

 down the fundamentals of a mathematical theory of glacier varia- 

 tions. He then reviewed the information collected regarding the 

 variations of glaciers. In the Alps the retreat of the glaciers con- 

 tinues steadily, although a few glaciers of the Oetztal and some 

 others have made small temporary advances. The retreat has 

 lasted for several decades. A graphic representation of the varia- 

 tions of 26 glaciers in the Swiss Alps, including the Mont Blanc 

 group, shows that, for the greater number of them, the retreat 

 has lasted since the beginning of the nineteenth century, and that 

 the advance which occurred about 1850 was but an episode in the 

 general retreat. Since that time the retreat has been still more 

 marked. In the Scandinavian Alps the variations have been some- 

 what different ; in this region an advance occurred in the beginning 

 of the twentieth century. It began in the Jostedalsbra and the 

 Folgef on and progressed toward the north ; but the advance was 

 confined to the coast region and the glaciers in the mountains 

 of central Scandinavia did not participate in it. This advance 

 must also be looked upon as an unimportant event in the general 

 retreat. The glaciers of the Caucasus, of the Tyan-Shan, the Altai, 

 the Highlands of Pamir, and the Himalaya are in retreat, though 

 here also special cases of advance have been noted. Among the 

 glaciers of the United States and Canada the retreat is general 

 and this is true to a still more marked extent in Alaska. Between 

 1892 and 1907, the retreat of the glaciers has increased the area of 

 Glacier Bay by 19 square miles. Of great interest are the sudden 

 remarkable advances of the glaciers of Yakutat Bay, which Pro- 

 fessor R. S. Tarr has described and imputed to the great increase 

 in snow-supply due to avalanches incited by the earthquakes of 

 1899. Professor Hauthal has described the rapid advance of the 

 Bismarck Glacier, in South America, since the end of the last century. 



Professor Kilian described the variations of glaciers in France. 

 . The importance of the water from glacial streams has led the Min- 

 ister of Agriculture to give material aid to the observations of 

 glaciers. 



Professor Dr. F. W. Svenonius spoke of the difficulty of making 



