A Glacier Hunt. 



79 



theirs ; but suddenly a sharp and apparently insur- 

 mountable ridge appeared, disorganising their forces 

 and bringing them to a complete standstill. The 

 guide was equal to the occasion ; throwing his alpen- 

 stock over the ice-ridge and using it as a grapple he 

 soon reached the top, then assisted Agassiz, who 

 stood on the pinnacle of the famous Jungfrau and 

 looked off upon one of . the grandest scenes in the 

 world. The actual peak was so narrow that but one 

 person at a time could stand upon it, so the adven- 

 turers took their turn in clasping arms about the 

 apex, drinking in the wonders of the scenery. 



The descent was easily made, and in less than a 

 third of the time taken in the ascent they were in 

 the lowlands again, safe and highly elated at the 

 satisfactory termination of the adventure. 



The experiments of Agassiz did not satisfy his op- 

 ponents, and the glacial war was fought between 

 Switzerland, England, and France, with renewed 

 vigour. Murchison wrote him, referring to his last 

 discovery : You will see that I have grappled hon- 

 estly and according to my own faith with your ice, 

 but have never lost sight of your great merit. My 

 concluding paragraph [in an accompanying discourse] 

 will convince you and all your friends that if I am 

 wrong it is not from any preconceived notions, but only 

 because I judge from what you will call incomplete 

 evidence. Your Venez voir ! still sounds in my ears.*' 



In his address at the Anniversary Meeting of the 

 Geographical Society of London, 1842,^ he said: 



^ Extract from Report in vol. xxxiii of the Edinburgh New FkilO" 

 sophical JournaL 



