XIV. Illustrations of the viscous theory of glacier motion.–Part III

Abstract

Up to the year 1844 no attempt had been made, so far as I am aware, to measure the rate of motion of those comparatively small isolated glacial masses reposing in the cavities of high mountains, or on cols , called by De Saussure Glaciers of the Second Order . Some observations had indeed been made upon a glacier of this description in 1841, and by MM . Martins and Bravais, during a residence on the Faulhorn. But it was not at that time known that the motion of glaciers was a continuous and regular one, admitting of rigorous measurement even in short intervals of time, and the importance of such observations was overlooked. They accordingly believed that the glacier in question had no sensible motion, and probably they did not attempt to observe it until a subsequent year. It is impossible now to doubt that the Blau Gletscher , near the Faulhorn, has a movement like all other bodies of the kind.