Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Moraine near tttc Montanvcrt, Chamouni. CHAPTER II. SOME ACCOUNT OF GLACIERS GENERALLY. The Snow Line The Waste Of Ice And Its Supply In Glaciers Causes Of Waste—Motion—Fallen Blocks—Moraines, Medial And Lateral Glacier Tables And Conf.8 Formation Of Holes In Ice Veined Structure Of The Ice In Glaciers The Glaciers Of The Aar And Rhone The Neve Cause Of Glacier Motion De Saussurfi's GraviTATION Theory—Dc Charpf.ntieh's Theory Of Dilatations-objections TO EACH. " Where so wide, In old or later time, its marble floor Did ever temple boast as this, which here Spreads its bright level many a league around." Dver' Fittef, It has already been said, that no small part of the present work refers to the nature and phenomena of glaciers. It may be well therefore, before proceeding to details, to explain a little the state of our present knowledge respecting these great ice-masses, which are objects of a kind to interest even those who know them only from description, whilst those who have actually witnessed their wonderfully strikingand grand characteristics can hardly need an inducement to enter into some inquiry respecting their nature and origin. I have already alluded to the fact, that high mountains in every part of the world are covered with snow. It is enough for our present purpose, that the fact is, that the atmosphere becomes colder as we ascend in it, until that cold reaches a great and hitherto unmeasured intensity. Consequently, by merely ascending the slope of a hill, we pass through successive gradations of seasons. Whilst the plains are covered with the verdure of summer, eternal winter reigns upon the summits, and thus the stupendous ranges of the Himalaya or the Andes present, in one condensed picture, all the climates of the ea...