368 The American Geologist. jmie, isgs 
motion with the few feet a day of the Alpine glaciers raised, at 
once, the feeling that such motion was impossible. But, at the 
present day, I would hesitate to take time to show the inherent 
possibility and probabilit}" of such motion, except that the work 
done by Danish geologists in measuring the rates of many Green- 
land glaciers seems to have escaped the notice of a recent writer 
in Science, who alludes to Prof. Wright's measurements as not ' 'in 
harmony with all other observations. "* 
Mr. Upham has kindly sent me the following notes from an 
article on "The Inland Ice of Greenland, "in the Scottish Geographi- 
cal Magazine:t "The velocities of the same glacier at different 
seasons haA^e also been partly determined. During this work, 
fluctuations have been discovered, of which the nature and cause 
remain completel}' unknown The measurements of twenty. 
five or thirty glaciers ending in deep fiords prove that the 
middle portions of all these glaciers, at the period of quickest mo- 
tion, have an average velocity of 51 feet in twenty-four hours, or 
a little over two feet per hour The true home of icebergs 
is the coast between 68^" and 75" north latitude, wiiich contains 
all the large ice-fiords on the western side that are thoroughly 
known. The most southerly, the Jacobshaven fiord, has been 
most minutely explored, and the observations extend over 
many years. The depth of the glacier in the center prob- 
ably amounts to considerably over 1,000 feet. The breadth 
is 14,000 feet, and the middle part moves in July (53^ feet 
in 24 hours (Helland, 1875). About 4,000 feet nearer the side, 
in March and April (Hammer, 1880) the speed was 33 to 51^ 
feet. The declivity of the whole glacier was only \^ . . . . The 
examination of the next section, from 69f° to 72^^^, was the 
work of Steenstrup The Torsukatak glacier is 25,000 feet 
broad, and the velocity at some distance from the center is 16 to 
25 feet in 24 hours (according to Helland, 29,000 feet broad; 
velocity in the center, 30 to 32 feet)." Karajat glacier, 19,000 to 
22,000 feet wide, velocity 22 to 38 feet. Itivdliarsuk glacier, 
17,500 feet broad, velocity 46 feet in April, 21 to 28 feet in Ma}'. 
Between 72^'^ and 75°, in the Bay of Augpadlartok "the 
branch of the inland ice, which there descends into the sea, has 
*W J McGee, Science, Dec. 2, 1892, p. 317. 
' tVol. V, pp. 18-28, Jan., 1889, translated by W.A. Taylor from Dr. H. 
Rink in "Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft fiir Erdkunde zu Berlin, vol. 23^ 
No. 5." 
