GLACIERS. 
beneath the force of the falling lauwine, or 
is immersed in the snow in a benumbing 
swoon, how deeply soever he may be bu- 
ried, the dogs never fail of finding the 
place of his interment, which they point 
out by scratching and snuffling, when the 
sufferer is dug out and carried to the mo- 
nastery, were every possible exertion is 
used for his restoration. The number of 
those who lose their lives in the field of 
battle is known to all Europe, but no one 
could give me an account , what number 
have thus had the gift of life conferred on 
them a second time. Yet notwithstanding 
all the care and attention of these real 
friends of mankind, and their faithful dogs, 
scarcely a year passes, but as the snowmelts 
away in summer, the dead bodies of tra- 
vellers are discovered, who remote from 
their homes, and all that was dear to them, 
have perished here unnoticed and unknown. 
As the ground for a considerable extent 
round the monastery is solid rock, the 
dead bodies are collected together in a cha- 
pel, lying on its eastern side, which is made 
to admit a thorough draft of air, by openings 
in the walls, guarded by large iron bars. 
The sight of so many unfortunate persons, 
probably collected from various parts of 
the world, yet howsoever remote from each 
other in life, brought hither by an unfortu- 
nate similarity of fate to rest together in 
death, afflicted my inmost soul. They are 
all covered with palls, and as in this frozen 
region no exanimate body moulders, but 
only gradually shrivels and dries away, so 
the features remain undisfigured for a con- 
siderable length of time, and some have 
even been recognized by friends and rela- 
tions, after having lain here for two or three 
years. The bodies are not disposed one 
over the other, but are all placed upright, 
and each fresh corpse leans its head on the 
breast of the former; this disposition has 
something familiar in it, and gives them the 
semblance of being united only in a general 
slumb?.r. Four rows of these slumberers al- 
ready rest here, from the faces and hands of 
many of whom the palls have slipped off 
and left them uncovered : these have all a 
perfect mummy-like appearance.” The 
fall of the avalanche necessarily reduces 
the quantity of snow and frozen fluid on 
the summits, and the transfer of it to a 
warmer region, must facilitate its dissolu- 
tion. The lower glaciers, though not sub- 
ject to equally precipitate descent, cannot 
otherwise than gradually advance towards 
the vallies, which may be inferred from the 
constant passage of torrents under them, 
and their own enormous weight ; besides 
the chasms that universally intersect them, 
plainly evince that their foundations being 
partially undermined, they glide slowly 
downward overturning trees, and pushing 
stones before them ; the edges obtruded on 
the earth by this means naturally dissolve 
far more rapidly than if they remained sta- 
tionary. 
Another means of dissolution arises from 
evaporation, which takes place on every 
portion of the globe, however elevated. 
Exclusive of the above causes, are the con- 
stant play of the beams of the sun on the 
surfaces of the glaciers, which being capa- 
ble of redoubled heat by concentration and 
refraction in some favourable positions, 
must produce very violent thaws ; the air 
heated by this and similar means in other 
parts of the mountains, often meets the 
traveller in streams, which seem as if pro- 
ceeding from a hot bath, consequently those 
projections subject to their influence, must 
vanish rapidly ; but a more certain and re- 
gular changfe occurs from the mean tempe- 
rature of the earth, where the transition 
from summer heats to winter colds cannot 
ever take place. “ This mean tempera- 
ture,” says Mr. Coxe, •* termed by some 
philosophers the internal heat of the earth, 
is always above the freezing point, as is evi- 
dent from the heat of the springs which 
issue from the bowels of the earth. In 
winter, therefore, or in those high regions 
of the globe, where the cold is usually be- 
low the freezing point, when any spot of 
ground is covered with only a thin coat of 
snow, it may be so far cooled, to a certain 
depth, by the influence of the external air, 
as not to be capable of dissolving any part 
of the superincumbent snow. But when 
the mass of snow is of such a thickness as 
to protect the surface of the ground from 
the effects of the atmospherical cold, the 
mean temperature which is always above 
the freezing point will be sufficient to melt 
the contiguous surface of snow, and to oc- 
casion a constant thaw, which supplies 
those currents of water that flow' at all sea- 
sons from the upper and lower glaciers.” 
Having endeavoured to explain the causes 
of the glaciers and their changes, it will be 
proper to give an idea of their sublimity in 
the words of M. Bourrit, who appears to 
have viewed and described them with all 
that enthusiasm which such splendid objects 
must have inspired. “ To come at this 
collected mass of ice (Des Bois) we crossed 
i 
