Change^ in the 2L(!r Glacier. — Baldwin. 371 
each other, while the moraine from H is forced one mile toward E 
in a distance of two miles. The moraine from Clranite cafion in 
moving down three miles is forced sidewise more than one and a 
half miles. From this it is evident that at anj' point of the mo- 
raine the direction of motion is not the direction indicated by the 
moraine at that point, but varies from that course 15° to 45° to 
the east. So the moraines at the line of sight indicate a motion 
at right angles to that line, while they are really pushed sidewise 
toward E rapidly enough to increase Prof. Reid's most rapid rate 
by one-fifth, or moi-e than a foot, and to become an important fea- 
ture in higher rates. 
B. In regard to the localities of the measurements, it must be 
noted that the ice-front was 3,000 feet farther back in 1890 than 
in 1886, but all the measurements were taken within 6,000 feet of 
where the ice-front of 1886 stood. 
In 1890 the part of the glacier where Prof. Wright's points 1^ 
2, and 3 had been, was gone; the part which contained -4 and 5 
disappeared while Prof. Reid's party were camped there; and the 
localities of 6, 7 and 8 had become nearly the land front of the 
ice. Prof. Wright's point 5 was farthest back, but that was at 
least 1,200 feet in front of Prof. Reid's line of measurement. 
Prof. Wright's point 2 was 3,700 feet in front of that line. It 
should be stated that these points are not accurateh^ located on 
Prof. Wright's sketch map in the "Ice Age in North America." 
Examination of the glaciers of the Alps has shown that very 
considerable local differences of rate are caused by a small variation 
in descent or form of the bed. The Muir glacier must be subject 
also to more or less local influence from the side glaciers entering 
it, but it would hardly seem that these causes could account for 
more than small differences. They ma}' have been responsible for 
a part of the seeming discrepanc}' between the measurements of 
the two seasons. 
C. Prof. Reid, finding it impossible to cross the glacier was un- 
able to set flags over a distance of fifteen hundred feet in the 
most crevassed and most rapidly moving portion of the glacier. 
That his measurements thus fail to give the highest rate then ex- 
isting on the glacier, Prof. Wright has pointed out in his last 
book* and this undoubtedly explains a part of the discrepancy', but 
*Man and the Glacial Period, 1892, p. 47; also American Geologist, 
Dec, 1892, p. 397. 
