58 Literary Notices. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Ice Caves of France and Switzerland : A Narrative of Sub- 

 terranean Exploration. By the Rev. G. F. Browne, M.A., Fellow 

 and Assistant Tutor of St. Catherine's College, Cambridge, 

 Member of the Alpine Club. (Longmans). — So little is generally- 

 known concerning even the existence of those curious natural 

 objects — ice-caves, or glacieres — that Mr. Browne's pleasantly- 

 written narrative of his explorations will have the charm of com- 

 plete novelty to most of his readers. The general conditions of an 

 ice-cave are, first, the existence of a great hole in the ground, at a 

 considerable elevation. The cave must be protected by its shape 

 and local conditions, not only from direct solar radiation, but also 

 from the entrance of warm currents during the summer months ; 

 and lastly, there must be, from infiltration or some other cause, a 

 supply of moisture to be frozen when a sufficiently low tempera- 

 ture prevails. Thus, the glaciere, or ice-cave, is an ice-factory and 

 ice-house combined. During the greatest heat it must not be so 

 affected by the external air as to reach, for any length of time, a tem- 

 perature much above the freezing point. There may be a little thaw ; 

 but there must not be enough to prevent a good stock of ice re- 

 maining till the period of fresh ice formation comes round again. 

 The traveller desiring to visit these very curious natural formations 

 climbs a few thousand feet up some mountain slope, then finds a 

 more or less abrupt entrance to a cave, which he usually descends, 

 partly by means of ricketty, half-rotten ladders, and partly, when 

 the slope admits of it, by the help of steps cut in the ice. In Mr. 

 Browne's case he was accompanied in many explorations by two 

 adventurous sisters, who braved the difficulties and dangers of 

 subterranean travelling, and seem to have got on famously, when 

 divested of crinoline. Walls of ice, sheets of ice, stalactites and 

 stalagmites of ice, columns of ice, and ice in a thousand fantastic 

 forms gratified the explorers, and Mr. Browne's descriptions, in 

 addition to their scientific value, form a very readable volume, 

 likely to tempt many of his fellow-creatures into leaving the sunny 

 regions of the day, and plunging down into the damp, cold bowels 

 of the earth, at the risk of rheumatism and catarrh. Mr. Browne 

 himself prudentially dined and cooled outside the ice-caves before 

 encountering their dark and wintry depths, and his brave sisters 

 very wisely compounded wholesome prophylactics, by mingling 

 brandy with ice or snow. 



Some glacieres are reached by first descending a deep pit, 

 others begin with a slope, more or less impracticable. In the 

 case of the " Glaciere of Monthezy," after scrambling down rough, 

 steep, and wet rocks, the party came to an "abrupt slope of 

 mud," and " a buttress of damp earth," in which it was neces- 

 sary to cut deep holes for the hands and feet before even a man 

 could venture upon the attempt with comfort." The man and 

 the praiseworthy women who could find "comfort" under these 

 circumstances, certainly deserved the reward of something worth 

 seeing when their labours were done, which, however, was far from 



