72 THE FOKMS OF WATER IN 



Third Line: CC upon the Skltch. 



East West 



Slake .. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 



Inches . 20 23 29 30 34 28 25 25 25 18 9 



172. Both the first stake and the eleventh in this 

 series stood near the sides of the glacier. On the 

 eastern side the motion is 20 inches, while on the 

 western side it is only 9. It rises on the eastern side 

 from 20 to 34 inches at the 5th stake, which we, stand- 

 ing upon the glacier, can see to be much nearer to the 

 eastern than to the western side. The united evidence 

 of these three lines places the fact beyond doubt, that 

 opposite the Montanvert, and for some distance above it 

 and below it, the whole eastern side of the glacier is moving 

 more quickly than the western side. 



§ 24. Suggestion of a new Likeness of Glacier Motion 

 to River Motion. Conjecture tested. 



173. Here we have cause for reflection, and facts are 

 comparatively worthless if they do not provoke this 

 exercise of the mind. It is because facts of nature are 

 not isolated but connected, that science, to follow them, 

 must also form a connected whole. The mind of the 

 natural philosopher must, as it were, be a web of thought 

 corresponding in all its fibres with the web of fact in 

 nature. 



1 74. Let us, then, ascend to a point which commands 

 a crood view of this portion of the Mer de Glace. The 



