366 Arnold Guyot. 



to stop work before I had ascertained whether this structure 

 was general for the whole mass of the glacier at that altitude, 

 or whether restricted to that locality notwithstanding the proof 

 of so large an extension of it." Guj^ot had some confidence in 

 his conclusions, bat he also felt, as he states, the importance of 

 more detailed investigation in order to decide on their real 

 value. 



On the 1st of December, 1841, Guyot communicated the 

 results of his observations of 1838, so far as relates to the 

 " blue bands," at a meeting of the JSTeuchatel Society of Natural 

 Sciences — "reading some passages from his notes written in 

 1838." This communication contains the additional fact that 

 the layers of the stratification in the Gries glacier were inclined 

 about 45° ; were nearly transverse to the principal glacier ; and 

 appeared also to have sinuosities due to lateral compression.* 

 Agassiz, in his Systeme Glaciaire (1847), cites from Guyot's 

 manuscript (then deposited with the Neuchatel Society) the 

 part relating to the "blue bands" (the only part he ever cited); 

 and in this citation there is a paragraph on the inclination or 

 pitch of the layers, with Guyot's additional suggestion that the 

 pitch of the layers looked as if a result of the advance of the 

 surface portion over that below, a point already explained by 

 him [b}^ reference to friction at bottom. f] 



Guyot opens his account of the blue bands with the remark 

 that as he had seen them only on one occasion, he dares not 

 hazard an explanation. But his later sentences show that he 

 was inclined to regard them as a result of deposition, and to 

 consider the varying inclinations in the layers as due to sub- 

 sequent disturbing action, that is, to the irregularities of glacier 

 movement caused b}^ friction and pressure under the varying 

 conditions of the glacier valley as to form and size. 



Whether right or wrong in these suggestions as to the bands, 

 Guyot's six weeks 1 work in the summer of 1883 was indeed 

 fruitful. He had the satisfaction of seeing his conclusions for 

 the most part confirmed by the facts collected by Agassiz, 

 Forbes and others, but not of receiving credit for his work and 



* The report of the meeting of the jSTeuchatel Society is contained in the Ver- 

 handlungen of the Schweiz. Nat. Gesellschaft, Altdorf, 1842. The abstract of 

 G-uyot's communication here given (pp. 199-200) says: "La position de ces 

 couches etait iuclinee d'environ 45° dans le sens de la pente generale du glacier. 

 Leur direction semblait presque transversale a celle du glacier principale, mais 

 longitudinale a celle de son penchant meridional. Elle presentait quelquefois des 

 sinuosites qui sernblaient un effet de compression laterale." 



f The cited paragraph in the Systeme Glaciaire (p. 209) is as follows: "La 

 direction de ces couches coupait a angle droit la ligne de marche (de pente) du 

 glacier; leur inclination deviait de 30° k 40° de la perpendiculaire vers la partie 

 inferieure, comme si la pente superficielle gagnait de 1'avance sur la partie inferi- 

 eure ainsi que je l'ai decrit plus haut." I learn from Mrs. Guyot that this para- 

 graph is a part of the original manuscript, and that it was by oversight that it 

 was not sent to the Neuchatel Society in 1883 with the rest. 



