784 



SCIENCE. 



[N. 8. Vol. XIX. No. < 



was conducted munificently and the series of 

 sumptuous reports in process of publication 

 under the editorship of Dr. C. Hart Mer- 

 riam, are in keeping with the princely spirit 

 manifest throughout the undertaking. The 

 volumes that have appeared command atten- 

 tion and invite examination on account of 

 their elegance and the good taste displayed 

 by them. The artistic spirit which pervades 

 them, although prominent, is subordinated to 

 the faithful presentation of scientific results. 

 The series of reports when completed will form 

 a monument to the broad-mindedness of the 

 originator of the esiDedition, such as no shaft 

 of sculptured marble could furnish. 



There is another point of view, however, 

 from which the beauty and costliness of dress 

 of the volumes in question may be considered. 

 They are issued by a publishing house at $7.50 

 per volume, a price which puts them beyond 

 the reach of many persons who would be 

 glad to possess them. Although final re- 

 ports so far as the Harriman Expedition is 

 concerned, in reality they contain only the re- 

 turns from a rapid reconnaissance. The dis- 

 tance from Puget Sound to Plover Bay, 

 Siberia, and return, over eight thousand miles, 

 was traversed by the expedition in fifty-eight 

 days. As reports of such a voyage, during 

 which much time was consumed in unprofit- 

 able travel, is it becoming to publish in so 

 costly a manner ? The thick paper, title pages 

 in red and black, gilt tops, scores of plates, 

 many of them in colors, tinted sketch-maps, 

 vignettes, artistic chapter headings, etc., of 

 these beautiful specimens of the bookmaker's 

 art, like Easter bonnets and jeweled rings, 

 are open to the criticism that the money they 

 represent could have been better spent. 



Glaciers and Qlaciation. — Of all the branches 

 of science represented by the men who ac- 

 companied the Harriman Expedition, the op- 

 portunities for study were certainly more 

 favorable for the glacialist and the student 

 of topographic forms than for any one else. 

 At almost any locality from Puget Sound to 

 the Aleutian Islands, where land is in sight, 

 the student of glaciers and of the changes 

 they make in the shapes of valleys, etc., can 



find material of special significance. In this 

 connection Gilbert says : 



The glacier-bearing belt includes about three 

 tenths of the vast territory of Alaska. Its ex- 

 ploration has but begun, yet enough is known to 

 give it rank as the third great glacier district of 

 the world, only the Antarctic continent and Green- 

 land surpass it. Its ice may be roughly esti- 

 mated to occupy a tenth of the surface, or an 

 absolute area of between 15,000 and 20,000 square 

 miles, and its expanse is so divided and scattered 

 as to ofl'er to the student the utmost variety of 

 local conditions and detail. Of alpine glaciers, 

 such as would receive individual names if near 

 the homes of men, there are many hundreds, pos- 

 sibly more than a thousand; of broad, composite 

 fields, like the Muir and Malaspina, there are 

 about a half dozen; and more than thirty are 

 known to reach the coast and cast bergs into the 

 sea. 



Of the vast mantle of snow and ice covering 

 so much of Alaska, the members of the Harri- 

 man Expedition saw only a portion of the 

 lower fringe. In southeastern Alaska and 

 extending as far west as Yakutat Bay, the 

 ground gone over by previous explorers was 

 reviewed and many new facts obtained, and 

 several modifications of previous conclusions 

 arrived at. To the west of Yakutat Bay, 

 and especially in the region of Prince William 

 Sound, a fresh field for glacial studies was dis- 

 covered and many important observations in 

 reference to tlie distribution of glaciers, their 

 fluctuations in length, etc., put on record. 

 More than a dozen alpine glaciers of large size 

 were discovered and several emptying into 

 College Fiord were named in honor of Ameri- 

 can colleges and universities. The chief addi- 

 tion made to previous knowledge of the geog- 

 raphy of the coast was the discovery of Harri- 

 man Eiord, a magnificent glaciated valley now 

 in part occupied by the water of the sea, with 

 many glaciers on its border, and a superb tidal 

 glacier at its head. 



The principal observations pertaining to ex- 

 isting glaciers presented by Gilbert may be 

 conveniently grouped in five categories : 



1. The distal ends of glaciers which ter- 

 minate in the sea are shown to undergo fluc- 

 tuations in length owing to seasonal changes 

 in atmospheric conditions. These variations 



