~90 Professor Molls' Reply to Professor Weiss,. &c. 
from the suspicion which he has thrown upon me, in your 
eyes, and in those of all who either may not have the op- 
portunity, or the inclination, to compare his writings with mine, 
which would of itself be sufficient for my justification. But I 
invite Professor Weiss himself to undertake such a comparison ; 
for, by his bold assertions of “ inconvenience, impropriety,” &c. 
he betrays a want of acquaintance with my method in general, 
which I should imagine a person ought to have previously ac- 
quired, who intended to lay before the public so comprehensive 
a critical examination of it, as lie has assumed the appearance of 
doing. I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, 
Frederick Mohs. 
Frey berg, } 
11 th January 1828. j 
Art. IX . — Account of the Cavern and Natural Glacier of the 
Rothorn , called the Schqfloch or Sheep's Hole. By M. Du- 
four, Lieutenant- Colonel of Engineers *. 
Having, learned, during my abode at Thun, that a cavern 
or natural ice-house, seldom visited even by the country people, 
and consequently very little known, existed in the side of a steep 
and rugged mountain called Rothorn, at a considerable distance 
from thence, I set out to visit it, accompanied by several offi- 
cers, on Thursday September 5. 1822, the weather being re- 
markably fine, and Fahrenheit’s thermometer from 78° to 77°. 
We went by water from Thun to Merlingen, which occupied 
an hour and a half : here we engaged a guide to carry our pro- 
visions, as none could be had farther on ; from thence we were 
two hours in reaching a cottage, which is the highest to be met 
with in ascending the Rothorn by the Wustenthal, or Deserted 
Valley. The road, cut out in some places in the edge of the beds 
of calcareous argil, which are here almost vertical, is very ra- 
pid, but nevertheless quite practicable. The direction of the 
valley is from south-west to north-east. 
It is necessary to take several guides from the cottage, or at 
least to provide one’s-self with a sufficient quantity of flambeaux, 
in order to be able to penetrate to the extremity of the cavern, 
* Translated from the Bibliotheque Universelle October 1822, vol, xxi. p. 113. 
