A GLACIER IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 685 



ning that it was difficult to believe they were harmless. We had no snow, however, 

 till the evening of the 14th, as we were entering Tromsoe Harbor, and during 

 the discharges of light the compass needle was wildly erratic. The determination 

 of the chemical elements involved, by means of spectrum analysis, is by no means 

 the least of the numerous scientific results to be derived from Arctic exploration. 

 — Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society. 



A GLACIER IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 



A gentleman, who has during the past two years, traversed the mountains in 

 the vicinity of Leadville, and penetrated almost every one of the secret recesses, 

 informed a Herald reporter yesterday that there is, within twenty-five miles of this 

 city, one of the most interesting curiosities of nature — a veritable glacier, present- 

 ing all the characteristics of the glaciers of Switzerland, both in magnitude and 

 motion, its progress being gradually down the gulch. The scene of this curiosity 

 is located in the Mosquito Range, about fifteen miles north of the pass. Our in- 

 formant states that he first discovered it about three years ago, while out on a 

 prospecting tour. It was nearly a mile in length, and at the bottom of the gulch 

 presented a sheer precipice of ice not less than 150 feet in height. Later in the 

 season the place was visited again, when it was found that the mass of ice had 

 melted until at its face it was not more than one hundred feet high, the loss from 

 4 the surface reducing its length to about half a mile. Again, early the following year 

 the place was visited, and the glacier was found to have regained its bulk, show- 

 ing that the accumulation of ice and snow during the winter was about one-third 

 its gross bulk. The rocks on the sides of this immense mass of ice show the 

 marks of attrition, proving beyond all controversy that the glacier is in motion. 

 Indeed, the earth at the foot of the gulch, heaved up in great masses, shows that 

 it is gradually moving down into the valley. During the summer, a large stream 

 of water flows from the face of the icy cliff. Our informant is of the opinion that 

 the glacier, as it progresses out of the deep gorge in which it was formed will 

 slowly melt away and it will not last many years. It is out of the way of ordinary 

 travel, and the route to the scene is exceedingly difficult, so that it is not likely to 

 be visited except by prospectors and hunters. — Leadville Herald. 



METEOROLOGY. 



MISSOURI WEATHER SERVICE, JANUARY 1880. 



PROF. FRANCIS E. NIPHER, WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, ST. LOUIS, MO. 



At the Central Station, January has been very warm, with excess of rain. 

 The normal January temperature is 31.7 °, while the temperature of January, 

 1880, was 46 ° , or 14.5 ° above the normal. In no case during the month did the 

 mean daily temperature fall to the normal temperature, and in only six cases did the 



