The Glaciers of the Alps: Being a narrative of excursions and ascents, an account of the origin and phenomena of glaciers and an exposition of the physical principles to which they are relatedTyndall, John
Science
The Glaciers of the Alps: Being a narrative of excursions and ascents, an account of the origin and phenomena of glaciers and an exposition of the physical principles to which they are related
Tyndall, John
Alps -- Description and travel; Glaciers -- Alps
The observations on which Professor Forbes based the analogy between a
glacier and a river are the following:--In 1842 he fixed four marks upon
the Mer de Glace a little below the Montanvert, the first of which was
100 yards distant from the side of the glacier, while the last was at
the centre "or a little beyond it." The relative velocity of these four
points was found to be
1.000 1.332 1.356 1.367.
The first observations were made upon two of these points, two others
being subsequently added. Professor Forbes also determined the velocity
of two points on the Glacier du Geant, and found the ratio of motion, in
the first instance, to be as 14 to 32. Subsequent measurements, however,
showed the ratio to be as 14 to 18, the larger motion belonging to the
station nearest to the centre of the glacier. These are the only
measurements which I can find in his large work that establish the
swifter motion of the centre of the glacier; and in these cases the
velocity of the centre is compared with that of _one side_ only. In no
instance that I am aware of, either in 1842 or subsequent years, did
Professor Forbes extend his measurements quite across a glacier; and as
regards completeness in this respect, no observations hitherto made can
at all compare with those executed at the instance of Agassiz upon the
glacier of the Aar.
In 1844 Professor Forbes made a series of interesting experiments on a
portion of the Mer de Glace near l'Angle. He divided a length of 90 feet
into 45 equal spaces, and fixed pins at the end of each. His theodolite
was placed upon the ice, and in seventeen days he found that the ice 90
feet nearer the centre than the theodolite had moved 26 inches past the
latter. These measurements were undertaken for a special object, and
completely answered the end for which they were intended.
In 1846 Professor Forbes made another important observation. Fixing
three stakes at the heights of 8, 54, and 143 feet above the bed of the
glacier, he found that in five days they moved respectively 2.87, 4.18,
and 4.66 feet. The stake nearest the bed moved most slowly, thus
showing that the ice is retarded by friction. This result was
subsequently verified by the measurements of M. Martins, and by my own.
If we add to the above an observation made during a short visit to the
Aletsch glacier in 1844, which showed its lateral retardation, I believe
we have before us the whole of the measurements executed by Professor
Forbes, which show the analogy between the motion of a glacier and that
of a viscous body.
[Sidenote: MEASUREMENTS OF AGASSIZ.]
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