denly turns aside, and betakes himself to very plain narrative. Again, we should have liked much more information than the author, from inability perhaps, has given us on the Geology and Natural History of the district embraced in his "Wanderings.”

He has not told us whether the desire to take the portraits of Indian chiefs, and to carry home with him articles illustrative of Indian social life, had any stronger motive associated with it than alventurous curiosity. Be this as it may, there are two classes of readers who will not fail to be influenced by his volume. To wit, such, on the one hand, as take an interest in watching the effects of modern civilization on those wild tribes; and such, on the other hand, as are on the look out for contributions from travellers in little known regions, which may help to form that Philosophy of Travel, which has yet to be put in a scientific shape, and which, it is believed, will ultimately solve all those mysteries touching language and race which have so long been to the ethnologists fruitful of speculations. The wellinformed reader will find more things in Mr Kane's volume suggestive of the East-of Egypt and of Nineveh-than the pipe head, which, because of its portrait of the Egyptian Sphinx, arrested his artistic eye. The philosophic historian and linguist will also find much in it to claim their attention. To the Christian philanthropist, however, "The Wanderings" will be painfully interesting. The white man has, in the enterprising spirit of trade, approached the red; but has his influence in this character been always of a healthful kind? Drunkenness and forms of unchastity, not before known even among these degraded races, have too often, if not always, been the result. The awful effects of the former stand boldly out in the eye of the traveller, wherever he finds commercial relations established between the white man and the red. The fruits of the latter are seen in the multiplying of "half breeds," until they have grown so numerous as to become a distinct tribe. Deserted by their fathers, they follow the habits of their mothers, while the Indian nature appears to gain strength from its cross with that of the white man. The results in most cases are a lawlessness and savage daring which far surpass anything of the kind to be met with among the "pure breeds." Direct and aggressive Protestant missionary effort, on a large scale, is needed for these Indians. And, if men of the stamp of Eliot and Brainerd go forth with the life of Christ strong in their hearts, and the words of Christ on their lips, we are convinced, notwithstanding the doubts of our author, that fruits will be seen like to those which Judson witnessed among the Karens, which Livingstone has seen in Central South Africa, and which are at present being plentifully realised in the sunny isles of the Southern Pacific.

ART. V.-1. Travels through the Alps of Savoy and other parts of the Pennine Chain, with Observations on the Phenomena of Glaciers. By JAMES D. FORBES, F.R.S., Sec. R.S. Ed., F.G.S. 8vo. Edinburgh: 1843. Pp. 424.

2. Norway and its Glaciers visited in 1851, followed by Journals of Excursions in the High Alps of Dauphiné, Berne, and Savoy. By JAMES D. FORBES, F.R.S., Sec. R.S. Ed. 8vo. Edinburgh: 1853. Pp. 350.

3. Etudes sur les Glaciers. Par L. AGASSIZ. Neuchatel: 1840. Un vol. 8vo. Accompagné chez Atlas, in folio, de 32 planches.

4. The Glacial Theory and its Recent Progress. By L. AGASSIZ. Edin. New Phil. Journal, 1842, vol. xxxiii., pp. 217-284. 5. Nouvelles Etudes et Experiences sur les Glaciers Actuels, leur Structure, leur Progression, et leur Physique sur le Sol. Par L. AGASSIZ. Avec un Atlas de 3 cartes et 9 planches. 8vo. Paris: 1847. Pp. 600.1

6. Researches in Physical Geology. By WILLIAM HOPKINS, Esq., M.A. Cambridge Transactions, vol. vi., p. 1-85. 1835.

7. On the Motion of Glaciers. By WILLIAM HOPKINS, Esq., M.A., F.R.S. Id., vol. viii., p. 50-75, 158. 1843. 8. On the Motion of Glaciers. By WILLIAM HOPKIns, Esq., M.A., F.R.S. Id. Phil. Magazine, January 1845.

9. On the Mechanism of Glacial Motion. By the same. Phil. Mag., Feb., March, and April 1845.

10. On the Glacial Theories. By DR WHEWELL. Id., Feb. and March 1845.

11. Mr Hopkins' Reply to Dr Whewell's Remarks on Glacial Theories. Id., April 1845.

12. Remarks on Mr Hopkins' Reply. By DR WHEWELL. Id., May 1845.

13. Reply to Mr Hopkins. By PROFESSOR FORBES. Id., May

1845.

14. Remarks on Professor Forbes' Reply. Id., June 1845, Suppl., p. 593.

15. Suggestions relative to the Theory of the Movement of Glaciers. By WILLIAM SUTCLIFFE, Esq. Id., June 1845.

16. On Regelation. By PROFESSOR FARADAY. Athenæum, June 1850, p. 641, and Phil. Mag., March 1859. 17. On the Descent of Glaciers. By the REV. HENRY MOSELEY. Proceedings of Royal Society, April 1855.

This is the First Part of the Systeme Glaciaire ou Recherches sur les Glaciers leur mechanisme, leur ancienne extension, et le role qu'ils ont joué dans l'Histoire de la Terre. Par MM. L. AGASSIZ, GUYOT, et E. Desor.

18. Remarks on Mr Moseley's Theory. By PROFESSOR Forbes. Id., June 1855.

19. On the Plasticity of Ice as manifested in Glaciers. By JAMES THOMSON, A.M., C.E. Id., May 1857.

20. Remarks on the Interior Melting of Ice. By PROFESSOR WILLIAM THOMSON, F.R.S. Id., Feb. 1858.

21. On the Stratification of Vesicular Ice by Pressure. By PROFESSOR WILLIAM THOMSON, F.R.S. Id., April, 1858, or Phil. Mag., Dec. 1858.

22. On the Structure and Motion of Glaciers. By JOHN TYNDALL, F.R.S., and THOMAS H. HUXLEY, F.R.S. Phil. Trans., 1857, or Phil. Mag., May 1858.

23. On some Physical Properties of Ice. By JOHN TYNDALL, F.R.S.. Phil. Trans., 1858, or Phil. Mag., Nov. 1858. 24. Remarks on Professor Tyndall's Paper on Ice and Glaciers. By PROFESSOR FORBES. Id., March 1859, p. 197. 25. Occasional Papers on the Theory of Glaciers, now first Collected and Chronologically Arranged, with a Prefatory Note on the Recent Progress and Present State of the Theory. By JAMES D. FORBES, D.C.L., F.R.S., etc., etc., Edinburgh, 1859. Pp. 278.

In the preparation of the earth for the occupation of the human family, physical causes of great energy, and acting during long periods of time were, doubtless, required; but it is a problem yet unsolved whether these periods amounted to the millions of years required by the geologist, or were of much shorter duration, owing to the operation of laws different from those now in action, or to quicker and more energetic processes than those which we now witness.1

During the 6000 years which have nearly elapsed since the creation of man, the universal deluge is the only grand event which could have greatly modified the general surface of the earth; but since that time powerful agents have been in operation, and great changes have been effected in different parts of the globe. Floods of vast extent, as we have had elsewhere occasion to remark, rushing from the ocean or from the bowels of the earth, have swept over its surface, carrying with them the soil and the blocks of stone over which they passed, and grinding and polishing the rocks which they laid bare. Successions of mighty forests have flourished and decayed on the same spot, leaving beneath strata of roots to the fourth and fifth generation. The seas have, in some regions, quitted their native beds; and, in others, invaded and destroyed the fields and the habitations of man. Islands have risen and disappeared in the ocean. Earth

See this Journal, vol. xxi., p. 20.

Interest attached to the Study of Glaciers.

91

quakes have shaken or overturned the mightiest fabrics of human wisdom, shattering even the mountain crests, and dislocating the solid pavement of the globe. The everlasting hills have risen above their native level, and lifted up from the ocean the very sea-beach which it had formed. Volcanoes have buried whole cities under their ashes, and covered with their burning lava the productive fields within its reach. Extensive lakes have poured out their contents, and recorded upon their ancient shores the erosions of the winds and the waves. Huge masses of rock have been transported from their mountain crags to vast distances in the plains below; and that element, with whose desolating power we are all familiar, seems to have once exercised a more tremendous energy when it fell in avalanches of snow from its mountain home, and in the form of glaciers descended our valleys with slackened pace but increasing power-grinding the granite flanks which embraced it-crushing the forest trunks that opposed it-poising on its crystalline pinnacles huge blocks of stone, and carrying them along its glassy viaduct over valleys now smiling with lakes, and plains luxuriant with vegetation.

Among such of these agents as are in continual operation, the glaciers possess a peculiar interest. They have afforded to the traveller and the naturalist curious topics of research, and to the artist rich materials for his pencil. Among their moraines and debris the mineralogist has pursued his crystal chase. In the solid ice, as well as in the more recent snow, the botanist has discovered the organisations of vegetable life, and in the same localities the zoologist has found "that the glacier is not a desert, but is inhabited by myriads of minute creatures, not less perfect in their species than the terrestrial animals and those which inhabit the waters of the earth.1

But, though the naturalists of Switzerland, where the glaciers have been specially observed and studied, have devoted themselves to the work with ardour and success, yet it is chiefly to their exterior character and their more obvious phenomena that they have limited their attention. It is strange to say, that it is to passing travellers, and those travellers English, that we owe the earliest and the most correct description of the internal structure of glaciers, and the best theory of their formation and movements. And that this should have been the case is the more remarkable when we consider the vast number of memoirs and treatises which have been published by foreigners, and especially by those who had daily opportunities of visiting the glaciers at every season of the year, and under all the conditions of weather and of climate, by which they are modified. It is scarcely credible, indeed, did we not possess the list of works on Glaciers 1 Agassiz Nouvelles Etudes, 1847, p. 137.

published by Agassiz in 1847, that one hundred and thirty-four memoirs and treatises were written on the subject, and yet we have no hesitation in stating, that it is in the fifteen or twenty publications which have appeared in England that the best account of the glacier world is to be found, the most accurate description of its economy and movements, and the most philosophical views of its formation.

As an important branch of physical geography, the distribution of glaciers over the globe is a subject of primary interest. It is, of course, only in those mountainous regions where the snow lies during the whole year that a glacier can be formed. In such regions there is a line called the limit of perpetual snow, or congelation, whose height generally depends on the latitude, and the distance from the sea, and on the summer temperature of the locality. In the tropical regions of America and Asia,—in the Andes and Himalaya, the height of perpetual snow varies from 15,000 to 18,000 or 19,000 feet, while in the south of Europe the same line is found between heights of 8000 and 9000 feet, and in Norway between heights of 7000 and 5000 feet. It is, therefore, only among mountains perennially capped with snow that glaciers can be found; but, as a glacier is not a mere accumulation of snow, there may be many lofty mountains in which glaciers do not exist; and there are certainly forms, and positions, and structures of mountains, as well as conditions of climate, which prevent their formation. If a mountain, for example, is too steep to allow the snow to adhere to its sides, it will not produce glaciers. In like manner, an insulated mountain will not produce them, even though it rises above the line of perpetual snow. In the Siedelhorn, for instance, there are no glaciers, though it is covered with snow during nearly the whole year, while a great number of glaciers are formed in mountains of inferior height, such as those which separate the lower from the upper glacier of the Aar.

A glacier is a mass of ice lying in Alpine valleys, or resting on the flanks of mountains. It is produced from the accumulation of perpetual snow in the hollows of mountains, which detaches itself from their summit and descends into the valleys. It there becomes solid ice, which melts when it comes into contact with the warmer air, earth, and rains, of the valley, the quantity melted being replaced from the reservoirs of snow in the higher mountains. In order to distinguish a glacier from an iceberg, Professor Forbes describes a glacier as ice in motion under gravity.

Although the glaciers which have been well described and carefully studied are those which exist in the south of Europe, in Switzerland, and Savoy, yet similar accumulations of ice, having the same origin, the same structure, and the same move