Travels through the Alps of Savoy and other parts of the Pennine Chain, with observations on the phenomena of glaciers

Front matter

-, ■ Lraeen. IE11 . ■ ... 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., CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, AND PROFESSOR OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH. Sage mir was du an diesen kalten und starren Liebliabereyen gefunden hast. Goethk. EDINBURGH: ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK, AND LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS, LONDON. M.DCCC.XLIII. EDINBURGH : PRINTED BV T. CONSTABLE, PRINTER TO HER MAJESTY. DEDICATION. TO M. BERNARD STUDER, DOCTOR IN PHILOSOPHY, CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF TURIN, OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF WASHINGTON, OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF FRANCE, ETC. ETC, AND PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY AND PHYSICS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BERNE.

My Dear Sir, In former times, Dedications were usually the fulfilment of a stipulation, by which Patronage was to be purchased by Eulogy. But since Patronage has ceased to secure success to mediocrity, and complimentary phrases have become too trite to be gratifying, a Dedication has become a rare appendage to a book. Nevertheless, it has always appeared to me an opportu nity to be valued by a literary man, of expressing publicly his respect for the talents, and his esteem for the character DEDICATION. IV of another, in terms requiring no rhetorical embellishments, because, in that case, the language of Truth and of Eulogy is the same. That you were my companion through several of the most interesting scenes described in this Volume, would alone be a good reason for requesting permission to dedicate it to you, especially as its appearance is not wholly uncon nected with conversations which then passed between us.

But when I add, that your intimate acquaintance with the Alps and their structure, derived from many years of unwearied research, gives you an especial right to judge of a Work relating to their Geography and Natural History — a farther reason for this Dedication will be understood by those who are aware that the best-informed are usually the most candid judges of the merits of others. Independently of this, I am happy in being able to claim your sympathy and friendship as the best reason of all, — a sympathy derived from common pursuits, and a friendship which, though not yet old, may certainly be affirmed to be not untried. I remain, My Dear Sir, Yours very sincerely, James D. Forbes. Edinburgh, 1st July 1843. CONTENTS. PAGE

Chapter I. The Alps, And Alpine Travellers

....... 1 Ways of Travelling and Books of Travels — The Alps an unexhausted Field — De Saussure — His Successors — The Author's experience— Travelling in Switzerland— Action and Speculation in Travelling— Plan proposed— The Pennine Chain of Alps.

Chapter II. Some Account Of Glaciers Generally

....... 17 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 Cones— Formation of holes in Ice — Veined Structure of the Ice in Glaciers— The Glaciers of the Aar and Rhone— The Neve1 — Cause of Glacier Motion— De Saussure's Gravitation Theory— De Charpentier's Theory of Dilatation— Objections to each.

Chapter III. On The Geological Agency Of Glaciers

...... 39 Reasons for supposing Glaciers to have caused the Transportation of Primitive Blocks in Switzerland— Playfair— Venetz— De Charpentier— Agassiz— Action of Glaciers upon rocks— The Pierre a Bot— The Blocks of Monthey— Abraded surfaces near the Pissevache— Objections to the Theory of Ancient Glaciers considered.

Chapter IV. Description Of The Mer De Glace Of Chamouni

..... 57 Physical Geography of the Ice-World— Glacier de Lechaud— Glacier du Geant— Source of the Arveiron— Ham eau des Bois— Cote du Piget — Ancient Moraine of Lavanchi— Le Chapeau — Mauvais Pas— Cattle traversing the Glacier — Blue Colour of Ice — Montanvert— Accommodations— The View— Les Ponts— L'Angle— Passage of the Glacier— Les Charmoz— Trelaporte.

Chapter V. Description Of The Mer De Glace

— CONTINUED, ..... 81 Trelaporte — A Traveller crag-Fast amongst Precipices— The Moraines of the Mer de Glace— " Moulins" — Discovery of De Saussure's Ladder — Tacul— Lake— Bivouac under a rock- Thunder- Storm— The Chamois Hunter— Superb Glacier Table— Glaciers of Lechaud and Talefre— Jardin— Pierre de Beranger. CONTENTS. VI

Chapter VI. Page Account Of

A SURVEY OF THE MER DE GLACE AND ITS ENVIRONS, ... 99 Object of the Survey— The Instruments— The Base Line— The Triangulation— Heights of the Stations Referred to Montanvert— Slope of the Glacier— Heights of the neighbouring Mountains above the Sea— Construction ofthe Map— Geographical Positions.

Chapter VII. Account Of Experiments On The Motion Of The Ice Of

THE MER DE GLACE OF CHAMOUNI, .......... 124 Glacier Motion a Mechanical Problem— Contradictory Opinions respecting it— Experiments Commenced— Daily Motion Detected— Motion by Day and by Night— Hourly Motion — Centre moves Fastest— Table of results — Laws of Glacier Motion from Observation— As respects the Length— The Breadth of the Glacier— The season of the Year and state of the Thermometer— Changes of Level ofthe Ice at Different Seasons.

Chapter VIII. On The Structure Of The Ice Of Glaciers, And Of

THE MER DE GLACE IN PARTI- CULAR, . . . . . . . . . .157 General Facts of Structure— Discovery of Wave-like Bands on the Surface of the Glacier — Figures of the Structure and Sections of the Mer de Glace— Details— Glacier du Talefre —Crevasses of Glaciers— Their Monthly Changes— Minute Fissures of the Ice — Its Permeability to Water— Veined Structure explained.

Chapter IX. The Tour Of Mont Blanc

— CHAMOUNI TO COURMAYEUR, . . . . .179 Glacier des Bossons— Its chief Phenomena— Route to the Montanvert— Glacier de Tacconay — Roches Moutonn^es at Pont Pelissier— Baths of St. Gervais— Origin of the Blocks of the Val Montjoie— Nantbourant— Col du Bonhomme— Col de la Seigne— All^e Blanche— Courmayeur.

Chapter X. The Glaciers Of Miage And La Brenva

....... 192 The Ascent of the Allee Blanche— Moraine of Miage— Its Height and Extent— Chamois— Tributary Glaciers— Their Structure and forms of union with the principal one— Scene of desolation on a Moraine— La Brenva— Its remarkable Structure— A superimposed Glacier— Inte resting contact of the Ice with the Rock beneath— Increase of the Glacier of La Brenva in 1818 — A Tradition.

Chapter XI. Environs Of Courmayeur

— GEOLOGY, ....... 208 Mineral Springs of Courmayeur and St. Didier— Remarkable relations of Limestone and Granite in the Val Ferret— Montagne de la Saxe— Croix de la Bernada and Mont Chetif— Symmetry ofthe Geology on either Side of the Alps— Ascent of the Cramont— Observations on >olar Radiation. CONTENTS. VII PAOK 244 254

Chapter XII

, THE PASSAGE OF THE COL DU GEANT, ....... 21C Passes of the Chain of Mont Blanc— History of this pass— Preliminary obstacles— Departure from Courmayeur — Ascent of Mont Frety— Experiment on the comparative intensity of moonlight, twilight, and that of a total Eclipse— Granite and granite blocks on Mont Frety — Arrival on the Col— The View — History of De Saussure's sojourn— and of his Observations — The Descent— Difficulties of the Glacier — Follow the track of a Chamois — Reach the Mer de Glace— Montanvert.

Chapter XIII. From Courmayeur To Chamouni, By The Col Ferret And Col

DE BALME, Piedmontese Val Ferret— Glacier of Triolet— View from the Col— Swiss Val Ferret— Martigny to Chamouni— Glacier of Trient— Col de Balme— Glacier of Argentiere.

Chapter XIV. Journey From Chamouni To Val Pelline, By The Val De

BAGNES, AND COL DE FENETRES, Traces of Ancient Glaciers from Les Montets to the Tete Noire — Arrival at the Great St. Bernard—Find M. Studer — Return to C-Tsieres — The Val de Bagnes— Chable — The Inhabitants — Glacier of Getroz — The Debacle of 1818— Chalets of Torembec — Economy of Chalets, and manners of the inmates — Glacier of Chermontane — Col dc Fenetres — View into Italy — Val ley of Ollomont — Goitres — Arrival at Valpelline.

Chapter XV. From Valpelline To Evolena By The Col De Collon

..... 273 Ascent of the Val Pelline or Biona— Geology— Syenites— Chalets of Prarayon — Head ofthe Valley — Ascent of the Col de Collon — Remains of Travellers lost in a Tourmente — Glacier d' Arolla — Its Structural bands — Magnificent view of Mont Collon — Opportune Meeting with Pralong— History of the Victims— Arrival at Evolena.

Chapter XVI. From Evolena In The Valley Of Erin To Zermatt In

THE VALLEY OF ST. NICOLAS, BY THE GLACIERS OF FERPECLE AND ZMUTT, ...... 286 A Night at Evolena— Wretched accommodation— Departure for Abricolla— Aspect of the Glacier of Ferpecle— A Night in the Chalets— Ascent to the Glacier— The Motta Rotta- The Stockhorn— Magnificent view of Monte Rosa and Mont Cervin— Dangerous descent— Precipices— The Bergschrund— Pralong returns— The Glacier of Zmutt— Structure of the Mont Cervin — Arrival at Zermatt.

Chapter XVII. The Environs Of Zermatt

.....-•• 309 Valley of St. Nicolas from Visp to Zermatt— Torrents— The Bies Glacier— Position of Zermatt —Glacier Marks on the Rocks-Glacier of Gorner— The Riffelberg— View and Bearings from it— Sketch of the Geology of this part of the Alps— Simple Minerals. CONTENTS. PAGE

Chapter XVIII. From Zermatt To Gressonay By The Col Of Mont Cervin

.... 319 Detainment at Zermatt— Ascent of the Pass of Mont Cervin— The Col— Fortifications— The Descent— Highly Electric State of the Atmosphere— Custom-House Officers— Breuil— Val Tournanche— Chamoix— Col de Portala— Val d'Ayas— Brussone— Col de Ranzola— Arrival at Gressonay— M. Zumstein. 1

Chapter XIX Gressonay

— MONTE ROSA, ......... 329 The German Valleys of Monte Rosa— Peculiar race of questionable origin— Their manners and dialect— Topography of Monte Rosa — Attempts to ascend it by Vincent and Zumstein —The Highest Point still unattained— An Excursion to the Glacier of Lys— Its retreat- Its Structure— Return to Staffel.

Chapter XX. Tour Of Monte Rosa

CONCLUDED— FROM GRESSONAY TO VISP, BY MACUGNAGA AND MONTE MORO, ........... 340 Passage of the Col d'Ollen — Alagna— Riva — The Col Turlo — Val Quarazza — Its Polished Rocks — Macugnaga— The People and their habitations— Excursion to the Glacier of Macugnaga — The Weiss Thor, a remarkable pass— Structure of the Glacier— Glaciers of the Second Order — Geology of the' Chain ' of Monte Rosa — Pedriolo— Gigantic fragments of rock — Return to Macugnaga— Pass of JMonte Moro — View of Monte Rosa— Descent to Saas— Glaciers of Schwartzberg and Allalein— Gabbro— Saas— Stalden— Peasants' Theatricals— Visp.

Chapter XXI. An Attempt To Explain The Leading Phenomena Of Glaciers

. . . ' 356 The Dilatation Theory considered, and compared with observation — The Gravitation Theory examined— The Author's Theory proposed— Glaciers really plastic— Conditions of Fluid Motion— Compared with those of a Glacier— Effect of Viscosity— The Veined Structure of the Ice a Consequence of the Viscous Theory— Illustrated by experiments— Comparison of a Glacier to a river — Conclusion.

Appendix

. NO. I.— ON A REMARKABLE STRUCTURE OBSERVED BY THE AUTHOR IN THE ICE OF GLACIERS 389 NO. II.— FOUR LETTERS TO PROFESSOR JAMESON, CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF OBSERVA TIONS ON GLACIERS, MADE IN 1842, ggg NO. III. — ON SOLAR RADIATION, . . ... ' 416 NO. IV. — ON MR. HOPKINS' EXPERIMENT, .jn POSTSCRIPT TO PAGE 152, .,,„ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. LITHOGRAPHS. Plate I. Glacier-Table on the Mer de Glace, . . . Frontispiec.?. II. View of the Mer de Glace of Chamouni from Les Charmoz, to face page 2.5 III. Contact of Ice and Rock at the Angle, Mer de Glace, . . 76 IV. Glacier of La Brenva in the Allee Blanche, from Entreves, . 201 V. Glacier of La Brenva, showing the Structure of the Ice, . 203 VI. Mont Collon, and the Glacier of Arolla ; Vallee d'Erin, . 283 VII. Mont Cervin from the Riffelberg, near Monte Rosa, . . 313 VIII.

Monte Rosa from Alagna, ...... 342 IX. Glaciers of the Second Order near Macugnaga, . . . 347 MAPS. A Map of the Pennine Chain of Alps, ..... to face page 1 4 Map of the Mer de Glace of Chamouni and the Adjoining Mountains from Actual Survey, . . . . . . .at the end of the Volume. TOPOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. Nos. I. and II., . . ..... to face page 193 Glacier of Miage. Glacier of La Brenva. Nos. III. and IV., 210 The Environs of Courmayeur. Glacier of Argentiere. LIST OK ILLUSTRATIONS. X PAGF Nos. V., VI., and VII., . . . . . . . . 269 The Col de Fenetres. The Col de Collon. The Col D'Erin. Nos. VIII. and IX., 345 The Glacier of Macugnaga. The Glacier of Allalein. THE PENNINE CHAIN OF ALPS TRAVELS THROUGH THE ALPS OF SAVOY, &C. &C.

Chapter I. The Alps, And Alpine Travellers

WAYS OF TRAVELLING AND BOOKS OP TRAVELS THE ALPS AN UNEXHAUSTED FIELD DE SAUSSURE HIS SUCCESSORS THE AUTHOR^ EXPERIENCE TRAVELLING IN SWITZERLAND ACTION AND SPECULATION IN TRAVEL- LING^ PLAN PROPOSED THE PENNINE CHAIN OF ALPS. Men travel from a great variety of motives, and they publish their travels perhaps from a still greater. The manner of travelling, and the forms of publication are equally diverse, and mark strongly the features of the age. The folio of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the quarto of the eighteenth, and even of our own time, have melted into the modern duodecimo : and something like a corresponding change may be traced in their contents. " Pilgrimages" are out of date, and the traveller's portfolio on feds return is as light in comparison as his portmanteau at starting : both are necessarily pro portioned to the rapidity of his movements.

The modern facilities for locomotion extend not only to England, France, Germany, and what in former days was called the grand tour, but gentlemen now walk across Siberia with as little discomposure as ladies ride on horseback to Flo rence. Even the Atlantic is but a highway for loungers on the A American continent, and the overland route to India is chronicled like that from London to Bath. The Desert has its post-houses, and Athens has its omnibuses. One consequence of this surprising change has been, upon a great scale, like that which the existence of railways has produced in any particular district. Persons who travel for the purpose of seeing, and relating what they have seen, are in such haste to escape from more familiar and accessible objects,- that the world gradually accepts it as a principle, that what is worth describing must be distant by at least the breadth of an ocean, or half a continent, from the home of the tra veller.

The result is, that those who write books of travels with other objects than to make money, or to indulge a harmless vanity, have usually sought remote countries for the subject of their writings. Thus by an insatiate thirst for novelty, and for communicating what is most new or strange, rather than what is worth knowing, we find that the proper dignity of an intelligent book of travels has been often overlooked. The question may yet remain, whether it is not a greater service to the community to show how much remains to be seen and studied in countries, comparatively speaking, accessible to all, than to write detailed descriptions of regions presenting few natural objects of importance, or of remote tribes, unvisited perhaps only be cause uninteresting or dangerous. To write a book of Travels in the Alps, will no doubt appear to many persons a very unpromising as well as superfluous undertaking, it being taken for granted that what is so easily accessible must be perfectly well known ; and the absence of any recent book of the kind, intended for more than a temporary object, and speedy oblivion, might tend to confirm the idea that no such work is required.

It has, however, been the result of journeys continued throughout seve ral summers, in countries commonly called the best known in Eu rope, that I am persuaded that even in these there is yet much to be seen, much explained, and much of which a general account may prove as interesting as that of visits to more distant, though scarcely more unknown lands. An excellent work might be written •and it would be a large one — on the less known or undescribed BOOKS OF TRAVELS. 3 parts of the most frequented districts of Europe, which would show what a narrow line it is — no broader sometimes than the coloured border on a common map, separating one province or kingdom from another — which divides the known from the unknown ; the hio-h way along which roll daily the luxurious travelling equipages of Russian wealth or English fashion, and the remote valley scarcely outlined in our atlases, with a population speaking no acknow ledged European language, and to whom the sight of a foreign pe destrian occurs perhaps but once or twice a-year.

Nor this alone. Even where all men go, none may have stopped ; what all men see, none may have observed. As in many parts of experimental science unexpected discoveries are made in a work-shop or manufactory, so the book of nature, whose pages are open to all, is read but by a few ; and the notoriety of a fact, or a supposed fact, is often exactly the cause why no explanation of it is sought, or its questionable authenticity tested. It is not too much to say that the natural history of a great part of the chain of Alps, the most instructive and grandest theatre of natural operations in Europe, is in this predicament. Thousands of travellers, many of them amongst the most enlightened men of their day, frequent them : But where is the fruit ? Whilst Parry, and Franklin, and Foster, and Sabine, and Ross, and Darwin brave the severities of arctic and antarctic climates, to reap the knowledge of the various phe nomena of earth and atmosphere, climate and animals, the geology, meteorology, and botany of countries comparatively uninteresting to us, are we perfectly informed of all these particulars even in our own quarter of the globe ?

Undoubtedly not. Where are we to look for travels like De Saussure's, and why are comprehensive works, adapted for the general reader and student of nature, to be replaced entirely by studied monographs connected with some single science in some single district \ The belief that the narrative form is at once the most agreeable and the most natural, both to author and reader, when truths progressively attained, and founded on numerous observations of detached facts, are the subjects, has finally determined me to fulfil an early and nearly abandoned project of writing a book of travels. The present volume is the result. It may be considered as an attempt to show, upon a small scale, what it is believed might advantageously be pursued upon a larger one. The aim of the work is confessedly to illustrate the physical geography of a particular district in one of the most fre quented regions of the Alps ; and more especially to arrive at results of a definite kind respecting the natural history of glaciers, those great masses of ice which so generally attract the casual, though only the casual, notice of travellers.

It is a duty which every one who writes owes to the public and to himself, to be informed, generally at least, of the labours of his pre decessors, that he may not, even involuntarily, assume to himself credit for that which belongs to another, nor invite attention to that which is already well known. The duty is not an easy one. Topographical literature, more than almost any other, is diffused over bulky and unindexed compilations, or more irrevocably lost in fugitive pamphlets. I well know, from some former experience, the labour of an attempt to analyse all the writings connected with even a small district, and, generally speaking, its little value as regards substantive information : and I soon saw that such an attempt in the present case would be wholly incompa tible with the proposed extent of this work, and with the time which I could withdraw from other duties for writing it.

I hope that it will appear, notwithstanding, that I have not been inattentive to what my predecessors have done, and that I have endeavoured throughout, in matters of original observation, to render to them their due. I do not, indeed, pretend to have read the whole works of Sim ler, Scheuchzer, and Gruner, the older alpine historians ; but I have carefully examined them in many parts, especially those which bear upon the doctrine of glaciers. The writings of De Saussure have been the subject of perpetual reference — not only at home, but amongst the very scenes which he has described, and where it is easy to retrace the exactness of his assertions, and the faithful yet sober colouring of his descriptions. Himself a man of independence and station at Geneva, DE SAUSSURE. 5 early imbued with a taste for exploring mountain scenery ; well instructed in the then existing state of natural history and the allied branches of physics, he was exactly in the proper position for advancing a knowledge of his own country, and of those na tural laws which may best be studied amongst its mountains.

His journeys were not " tours de force,'''' miracles of rapidity and boldness, from which, if any thing were gained, it must have been by a sort of intuition. On the contrary, even his more adventurous expeditions were commenced with a calm foresight, peculiar to him self, of the ends to be gained, and the best methods of attaining them. He did not court dangers ; he did not affect to despise even inconveniences. His fortune permitted him to travel and observe in a manner which is as rare at the present day as formerly. He was frequently accompanied by ten or twelve men, and four or six mules carrying baggage, provisions, instruments, beds, and a tent ; and perhaps to this precaution may be partly attributed the long pe riod of life through which he was able to extend his laborious researches, trying to most constitutions, and from which, he states, that even he did not fail to suffer at last.

He acquired by his convenient position, (for he always resided at Geneva,) a familiarity with many of the scenes which he described by repeated visits, each one clearing up the doubts of the last. For many years he made an annual journey, and a great part of the Alps was traversed by him, although unnoticed in his published journeys. De Saussure had a particular caution and anxiety about the editorial part of his writings ; — it is probable that he only selected the most complete for publication.* It undoubtedly requires a very long apprenticeship to the art of travelling to learn how to group facts, — to observe with intelligence, and to record observations on the spot with sufficient clearness and detail.-f- De Saussure had seen some other countries * See the Advertisement to the first volume of his Travels, dated 1779. t The practice which I have long adopted with advantage, is this: — to carry a memorandum - book with Harwood's prepared paper and metallic pencil, in which notes, and observations, and slight sketches of every description, are made on the spot, and in the exact order in which he was able to compare with the structure of the Alps, although he does not appear to have travelled much beyond Switzerland and France, excepting one journey to Sicily.

It is not easy to ascertain from his published journeys, and still less from the meagre biography which exists of him by Senebier, the exact time which he spent upon his travels each summer : As far as I can gather, however, it appears not to have been very long ; and we are struck with the circumstance that many remarkable parts of the Alps, within easy reach of Geneva, are wholly undescribed, and that he would appear very seldom to have taken up his residence for a considerable time at one station. That De Saussure was a bold mountaineer is plain from his well known ascent of Mont Blanc, at a time when such difficulties, little understood, seemed far more formidable than at present, when the chief obstacles to such a feat, arise from its very familiarity, and the ostentatious and expensive precautions which, not unwisely perhaps, have been interposed to its accomplishment.

But the most interesting and most adventurous feat which De Saussure performed, was his residence of seventeen days on the Col du Geant, a height of above 11,000 feet ; of which I shall give a separate account in the course of this work. De Saussure's style is generally easy and interesting, without any pretension to elaboration, and in this respect his work contrasts most happily with that of Bourrit, published about the same time ; who, though by no means an uninteresting writer, conveys the simplest facts through a medium of such unmixed bombast as to disgust the reader, rather than arouse his sympathies for admiration or for awe. In both, however, it must be admitted that here and there a natural which they occur. These notes are almost ineffaceable, and are preserved for reference. They are then extended, as far as possible, every evening, with pen and ink, in a suitable book, in the form of a journal— from which, finally, they may be extracted and modified for any ultimate purpose.

The speedy extension of memoranda has several great advan tages ; it secures a deliberate revision of observations, whether of instruments or of nature, whilst the circumstances are fresh in the mind, whilst farther explanation may be sought, and very often whilst ambiguities or contradictions admit of removal by a fresh appeal to facts. By this precaution, too, the not inconsiderable risk of losing all the fruits of some weeks of labour, by the loss of a pocket-book, is avoided. DE SAUSSURE— HIS SUCCESSORS. 7 passage of calm eloquence may be found descriptive of natural beauty, and of the sentiments, irrepressible in most minds, of Natural Religion, which familiarity with great mountain scenery peculiarly calls forth. De Saussure has aimed at variety in his work — and beyond a doubt successfully.

Topography, natural history, and personal adventure are happily combined ; and many persons who would have been repelled by a professed work on the geology of the Alps, have read with avidity one which oilers so much else to their attention. Even at the present time De Saussure's Travels can hardly be called obsolete, because no other work has replaced them ; and though the geology of his day is in some degree exploded, the texture of the work is sufficient to retain for it a permanent interest. The arrangement is generally topo graphical; if any place has been repeatedly visited, the description refers to the general result of the observations. If only once visited, the narrative form is adopted. Occasional chapters are devoted to the explanation of subjects which have occupied much of his attention, without reference to particular localities.

Such an arrangement has many advantages. The plates in De Saussure's work, though more faithful than those of Bourrit, are not happy, and the maps give but an un favourable impression of the state of topography or of art at that time in Switzerland. There is scarcely one of the more modern writers with whom I am acquainted, whose writings can be classed with those of the great his torian of the Alps. The reputation of De Saussure seems to have de terred others, however well qualified, from resuming and continuing a work which, whether we regard the state of knowledge when it was written, or the vast extent of Alpine country scarcely noticed or un mentioned in its pages, ought rather to have been considered as a com mencement and a model, than as the completion of an undertaking so vast and so varied.

Far be it from me to underrate what has been accomplished since his time for the natural history of Switzerland by most able and zealous observers in special departments of science, to which the excellent Journals, and the valuable Academical Transac tions published there, especially those of Geneva, and of the Swiss Society, bear ample testimony. Far be it from me to overlook the monographs by Necker and Studer, Escher and De Charpentier, Lardy and Zumstein in the country itself, and those of many eminent foreigners connected with geology; and of Venetz, De Charpentier, Agassiz, and Rendu on the subject of glaciers, which have recalled at tention to what De Saussure had only outlined, and whilst showing the incompleteness of his generalisations, revived in us at the same time admiration of his genius, his fidelity, and his varied knowledge.

Two works only of late years seem at all to emulate De Saussure in style or matter — the " Naturhistorische Alpenreise" of Hugi, and the " Etudes dans les Alpes " of Necker. The former is a singular, we might call it a fantastical work. With a praiseworthy desire to benefit experimental philosophy, as well as the sciences of observation, by his very unusual and intrepid journeys, the Professor of Soleure, describes in detail his instruments and the results he obtains with them, which are often, however, so much at variance with those of indubitable authority, as to render us some what diffident in the adoption of them. We cannot but remark, too, that the ostentatious style of travelling which he preferred, often with twelve or fifteen companions and guides largely paid, was necessarily confined to very short and interrupted excursions, which in most cases were brought to a premature close by bad weather, when he was com pelled to break up his band, and relinquish his objects.

Amidst much which appears so paradoxical in Hugi's writings, as to pass with many for fabulous, we perceive a bold and determined spirit daring to follow nature, and in the lively, sometimes really eloquent, descriptions of scenery, we discover, too, the heart that can feel nature. Amidst a mass of dry details there is sufficient narrative to render the volume of Hugi agreeable reading, and this is another testimony to the value of the style of writing of which we speak, which presents even scientific truths in a form calculated to interest persons at large. Very different is the volume of M. Necker, Honorary Professor of Mineralogy at Geneva, and grandson of De Saussure. It forms only a portion of an extended work, calculated to embrace the geology of a large district of the Alps. Its arrangement is, however, rather syste matic than local, and, therefore, it wants some of the liveliness which THE AUTHOR'S EXPERIENCE. characterises the writings of the author of the " Voyages dans les Alpes."