CHAPTER XL 



A GLACIER HUNT. 



Interest in Glaciers — Opposition of Scientists — Visit to Glaciers — 

 The Hotel Neuchatelois — Curious Experiments — Descent into 

 the Glaciers — The Heart of a Glacier — Ascent of the Jungfrau — 

 Injecting Coloured Fluids — The Work on Glaciers. 



ESPITE the protests of 

 Humboldt and other 

 friends Agassiz grew 

 more and more inter- 

 ested in the glacial prob- 

 lem that his discerning 

 eye saw was yet un- 

 solved. He determined 

 to investigate it thor- 

 oughly, and to this end 

 began a series of glacier 

 hunts, a search for these 

 marvels of ice forma- 

 tion, ancient and modern. The vicinity of Mont 

 Blanc was naturally the point of greatest interest, 

 and one of his first trips was to the valley of the 

 Hassli where moves a vast river of ice, a later trip 

 being made to the glaciers of Mont Blanc. These 



68 



