VARIATIONS OF GLACIERS. XVII" 
HARRY FIELDING REID 
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 
The following is a summary of the Sixteenth Annual Report of 
the International Committee on Glaciers.” 
THE REPORT OF GLACIERS FOR IQIO 
Swiss Alps——The summer of 1910 was extremely wet and 
snowy, which interfered materially with the measures of the 
glaciers; nevertheless it was found that the retreat is still general, 
although it is becoming less and less marked. Of the fifty-four 
glaciers measured, only two are actually advancing, namely the Sex 
Rouge and the Lower Grindelwald; some others show indications of 
possible advance; all in this class lie north of the Rhone and 
Rhine valleys. 
Eastern Alps —In this region also the wet summer interfered 
with observations. Two glaciers, in addition to the one mentioned 
last year, are advancing. In general, the glaciers are in retreat. 
Many ice avalanches fell in a part of the Oetztal, which was formerly 
free of ice. 
Italian Alps.—The retreat here also is general. On account of 
the heavy snowfall some small glaciers were covered with snow to 
their ends during the whole summer, so that good observations 
could not be made. This was especially true of the Lombardy and 
Venetian Alps. 
French Alps——Many snow gauges have been set up by the 
French government and they show a decided increase in the snow- 
fall in comparison with the average of the last ten years. At Sixt 
the snowfall was twice as great as the average. The quantity 
of snow which has come down in the form of avalanches is also 
materially greater. Although the glaciers in the massif of Mont 
Blanc, in the Tarentaise, in the Maurienne, and in the Dauphiné 
are all retreating, they seem to be increasing in thickness at the 
« Earlier reports appeared in the Journal of Geology, III-XIX. 
2 Zeitschrift fiir Gletscherkunde, VI (1911), 81-103. 
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