Prof. Pictet on the Ice-caves of the Jura and the Alps . 17 
it, that the destruction of equilibrium is the greatest, between 
the interior and exterior column of air, which communicate by 
their base : it is then of course that the current of air, descend- 
ing and evaporating in the interior, is the most rapid and active, 
and produces the most powerful effects. 
If we admit this explanation as satisfactory, we shall find 
that Saussure, in endeavouring only to explain the phenomenon 
of cold winds, has explained likewise, without intending it, 
that of the natural ice-caves, about which he was not particu- 
larly occupied. 
By whatever other hypothesis we may attempt to explain 
the ice-caves and cold winds, that which attributes them to 
the mass of snow accumulated in the winter, must be exclu- 
ded. The ice-cave of Brezon is the only one which could be 
influenced by this cause, but it could have no effect whatever 
in producing that enormous mass of ice which is worked in the 
interior of the cavern of St George’s, in that of La Baume, or 
in that of Mount Vergy, which might be worked, if it were 
situated lower down, and nearer to some city where it would be 
consumed *. 
Art. II . — Memoir of the Life and Writings o/‘Olaus Swartz , 
M. D., Professor of Botany at Upsal , Knight of the Orders 
of Vasa, and of the Polar Star , Member of the Acad. Caesar, 
Nat. Cur., fyc. By Kurt Sprengel, M. D -f“. 
Olaus Swartz had the advantage of being born of respectable 
parents, occupying a middle station in society, and received an ex- 
cellent education. He enjoyed perfect and uninterrupted good 
health* even to the last years of his life. His sweetness of dis- 
position and inoffensive manners were such, that he felt a glow- 
* See this Journal , vol, ii. p. 80., for an account of the natural ice-cave of Fon- 
deurle, and also vol. vi. p, 353. We have no doubt that regular crystals of Ice will 
be found in the ice-caves of the Jura and the Alps; and we hope that the exa- 
mination of these, if they do exist, will be an object of interest to future vi- 
sitors. — Ed. 
•f- From Nova Acta Acad. Caesareae Leopoldino-Carolinae Naturae Curiosorum, 
vol. x. Just published at Bonn. 
VOL. V 1 1 T . NO. 15 . JAN. 1828 . 
B 
