PART II.
What is Light?—notion of the ancients; requires Time to pass through Space; Römer, Bradley, Fizeau; Emission Theory supported by Newton, opposed by Huyghens; the Wave Theory established by Young and Fresnel; Theory explained; nature of Sound; of Music; of Pitch; nature of Light; of Colour; two sounds may produce silence; two rays of light may produce darkness; two rays of heat may produce cold; Length and Number of waves of light; Liquid Waves; Interference; Diffraction; Colours of Thin Plates; applications of the foregoing to cloud iridescences, luminous trees, twinkling of stars, the Spirit of the Brocken, &c.
The Sun emits a multitude of Non-luminous Rays; Rays of Heat differ from rays of Light as one colour differs from another; the same ray may produce the sensations of light and heat
Heat a kind of Motion; system of exchanges; Luminous and Obscure Heat; Absorption by Gases; gases may be transparent to light, but opaque to heat; Heat selected from luminous sources; the Atmosphere acts the part of a Ratchet-wheel; possible heat of a Distant Planet; causes of Cold in the upper strata of the Earth's Atmosphere
[4.]—Origin of Glaciers. [248]
Application of principles; the Snow-line; its meaning; waters piled annually in a solid form on the summits of the hills; the Glaciers furnish the chief means of escape; superior and inferior snow-line
Whiteness of snow; whiteness of ice; Round air-bubbles; melting and freezing; Conversion of snow into ice by Pressure
[6.]—Colour of Water and Ice.[253]
Waves of Ether not entangled; they are separated in the prism; they are differently absorbed; Colour due to this; Water and Ice blue; water and ice opaque to radiant heat; Long Waves shivered on the molecules; Experiment; Grotto of Capri; the Laugs of Iceland
[7.]—Colours of the Sky. [257]
Newton's idea; Goethe's Theory; Clausius and Brücke; Suspended Particles; singular effect on a painting explained by Goethe; Light separated without Absorption; Reflected and Transmitted light; blueness of milk and juices; the Sun through London smoke; Experiments; Blue of the Eye; Colours of Steam; the Lake of Geneva
Glacier loaded along its edges by the ruins of the mountains; Lateral Moraines; Medial Moraines; their number one less than the number of Tributaries; Moraines of the Mer de Glace; successive shrinkings; Glacier Tables explained; 'Dip' of stones upon the glacier enables us to draw the Meridian Line; type 'Table;' Sand Cones; moraines engulfed and disgorged; transparency of ice under the moraines
[9.]—Glacier Motion,—Preliminary. [269]
Névé and Glacier; First Measurements; Hugi and Agassiz; Escher's defeat on the Aletsch; Piles fixed across the Aar glacier by Agassiz in 1841; Professor Forbes invited by M. Agassiz; Forbes's first observations on the Mer de Glace in 1842; motion of Agassiz's piles measured by M. Wild; Centre of the glacier moves quickest; State of the Question
[10.]—Motion of the Mer de Glace.[275]
The Theodolite; mode of measurement; first line; Centre Point not the quickest; second line; former result confirmed; Law of Motion sought; the glacier moves through a Sinuous Valley; effect of Flexure; Western half of glacier moves quickest; Point of Maximum Motion crosses axis; Eastern half moves quickest; Locus of Point of Maximum Motion; New Law; Motion of the Géant; motion of the Léchaud; Squeezing of the Tributaries through the Neck of the valley at Trélaporte; the Léchaud a Driblet
[11.]—Ice Wall at the Tacul,—Velocities of Top and Bottom.[289]
First attempt by Mr. Hirst; second attempt, stakes fixed at Top, Bottom, and Centre; dense fog; the stakes lost; process repeated; Velocities determined
[12.]—Winter Motion of the Mer de Glace. [294]
First line, Above the Montanvert; second line, Below the Montanvert; Ratio of winter to summer motion
[13.]—Cause of Glacier Motion,—De Saussure's Theory. [296]
First attempt at a Theory by Scheuchzer in 1705; Charpentier's theory, or the Theory of Dilatation; Agassiz's theory; Altmann and Grüner; theory of De Saussure, or the Sliding Theory; in part true; strained interpretation of this theory
Character of Rendu; his Essay entitled 'Théorie des Glaciers de la Savoie;' extracts from the essay; he ascribes "circulation" to natural forces; classifies glaciers; assigns the cause of the conversion of snow into ice; notices Veined Structure; "time and affinity;" notices Regelation; diminution of glaciers réservoirs; Remarkable Passage; announces Swifter Motion of Centre; North British Review; Discrepancies explained by Rendu; Liquid Motion ascribed to glacier; all the phenomena of a River reproduced upon the Mer de Glace; Ratio of Side and Central velocities; Errors removed
Anticipations of Rendu confirmed by Agassiz and Forbes; analogies with Liquid Motion established by Forbes; his Measurements in 1842; measurements in 1844 and 1846; Measurements of Agassiz and Wild in 1842, 1843, 1844, and 1845; Agassiz notices the "migration" of the Point of Swiftest Motion; true meaning of this observation; Summary of contributions on this part of the question
Discussions as to its meaning; Facts and Principles; definition of theory; Some Experiments on the Mer de Glace to test the Viscosity of the Ice
Caused by the Motion; Ice Sculpture; Fantastic Figures; beauty of the crevasses of the highest glaciers; Birth of a crevasse; Mechanical Origin; line of greatest strain; Marginal Crevasses; Transverse Crevasses; Longitudinal Crevasses; Bergschrunds; Influence of Flexure; why the Convex Sides of glaciers are most crevassed
Further considerations on Viscosity; Numerical Test; formation of crevasses opposed to viscosity
Connexion of Natural Forces; Equivalence of Heat and Work; heat produced by Mechanical Action; heat consumed in producing work; Chemical Attractions; Attraction of Gravitation; amount of heat which would be produced by the stoppage of the Earth in its Orbit; amount produced by the falling of the Earth into the Sun; shifting of Atoms; heat consumed in Molecular Work; Specific Heat; Latent Heat; 'friability' of ice near its melting point; Rotten Ice and softened Wax
Papers presented to the Royal Society by Professor Forbes in 1846; Capillary Hypothesis of glacier motion; hypothesis examined
Statement of theory; influence of Pressure on the Melting Point of Ice; difficulties of theory; Calculation of requisite Pressure; Actual pressure insufficient
Pressure and Tension; possible experiments; Ice may be moulded into Vases and Statuettes or coiled into Knots; this no proof of Viscosity; Actual Experiments; a sphere of ice moulded to a lens; a lens moulded to a cylinder; a lump of ice moulded to a cup; straight bars of ice bent; ice thus moulded incapable of being sensibly stretched; when Tension is substituted for Pressure, analogy with viscous body breaks down
Faraday's first experiments; Freezing together of pieces of ice at 32°; Freezing in Hot Water; Faraday's recent experiments; Regelation not due to Pressure nor to Capillary Attraction; it takes place in vacuo; fracture and regelation; no viscidity discovered
[24.]—Crystallization and Internal Liquefaction. [353]
How crystals are 'nursed;' Snow-Crystals; Crystal Stars formed in Water; Arrangement of Atoms of Lake Ice; dissection of ice by a sunbeam; Liquid Flowers formed in ice; associated Vacuous Spots; curious sounds; their explanation; Cohesion of water when free from air; liquid snaps like a broken spring; Ebullition converted into Explosion; noise of crepitation; Water-cells in glacier ice; Vacuous Spots mistaken for Bubbles; not Flattened by Pressure; experiments; Cause of Regelation
Their character; Depth of Moulin on Grindelwald Glacier; Explanation the Grand Moulin of the Mer de Glace; Motion of moulins
[26.]—Dirt-Bands of the Mer de Glace.[367]
Their discovery by Professor Forbes; view of Bands from a point near the Flégère; Bands as seen from Les Charmoz; Skew Surface of glacier; aspect of Bands from the Cleft Station; Origin of bands; tendency to become straight; differences between observers
[27.]—Veined Structure of Glaciers.[376]
General appearance; Grooves upon the glacier; first observations; description by M. Guyot; observations of Professor Forbes; Structure and Stratification; subject examined; Marginal Structure; Transverse Structure; Longitudinal Structure; experimental illustrations; the Structure Complementary to the Crevasses; glaciers of the Oberland, Valais, and Savoy examined with reference to this question
[28.]—The Veined Structure and Differential Motion.[395]
Marginal Structure Oblique to sides; Drag towards the centre; difficulties of theory which ascribes the structure to Differential Sliding; it persists across the lines of maximum sliding
[29.]—The Ripple Theory of the Veined Structure. [398]
Ripples in Water supposed to correspond to Glacier Structure; analysis of theory; observation of the MM. Weber; water dropping from an oar; stream cleft by an obstacle; Two Divergent lines of Ripple; Single Line produced by Lateral Obstacle; Direction of ripples compounded of River's motion and Wave motion; Structure and Ripples due to different causes; their positions also different
[30.]—The Veined Structure and Pressure. [404]
Supposed case of pressed prism of glass; Experiments of Nature; Quartz-pebbles flattened and indented; Pressure would produce Lamination; Tangential Action
[31.]—The Veined Structure and the Liquefaction of Ice by Pressure.[408]
Influence of pressure on Melting and Boiling points; some substances swell, others shrink in melting; effects of pressure different on the two classes of bodies; Theoretic Anticipation by Mr. James Thomson; Melting point of Ice lowered by pressure; Internal Liquefaction of a prism of solid ice by pressure; Liquefaction in Layers; application to the Veined Structure
[32.]—White Ice-Seams of the Glacier du Géant. [413]
Aspect of Seams; they sweep across the glacier concentric with Structure; Structure at the base of the Talèfre cascade; Crumples; Scaling off by pressure; Origin of seams of White Ice
Glacier du Géant in a state of Longitudinal Compression; Measurements which prove that its hinder parts are advancing upon those in front; Shortening of its Undulations; Squeezing of white Ice-seams; development of Veined Structure
ILLUSTRATIONS.
The Mer de Glace.—Showing the Cleft Station at Trélaporte, the Echelets, the Tacul, the Périades, and the Grand Jorasse.[Frontispiece]
Fig.Page
[1]. Ice Minaret[14]
[2]. Diagram of an angular reflector[16]
[3], [4]. Boats' sails inverted by Atmospheric Refraction[35]
[5]. Wave-like forms on the Mer de Glace[43]
[6]. Glacier Table[44]
[7]. Tributaries of the Mer de Glace[53]
[8]. Magnetic Boulder of the Riffelhorn[143]
[9], [10], [11], [12]. Luminous Trees projected against the sky at sunrise[180], [181]
[13]. Snow on the Pines[201]
[14], [15]. Snow Crystals[214]
[16]. Chasing produced by waves[233]
[17]. Diagram explanatory of Interference[234]
[18]. Interference Spectra, produced by DiffractionTo face [235]
[19]. Moraines of the Mer de Glace" [264]
[20]. Typical section of a glacier Table[266]
[21]. Locus of the Point of Maximum Motion[286]
[22]. Inclinations of ice cascade of the Glacier des Bois[313]
[23]. Inclinations of Mer de Glace above l'Angle[314]
[24]. Fantastic Mass of ice[316]
[25]. Diagram explanatory of the mechanical origin of Crevasses[318]
[26]. Diagram showing the line of Greatest Strain[319]
[27a, b]. Section and Plan of a portion of the Lower Grindelwald Glacier[322]
[28]. Diagram illustrating the crevassing of Convex Sides of glacier[323]
[29]. Diagram illustrating test of viscosity[326]
[30], [31], [32], [33]. Moulds used in experiments with ice[346]-[348]
[34]. Liquid Flowers in lake ice[355]
[35]. Dirt-bands of the Mer de Glace, as seen from a point near the FlégèreTo face [367]
[36]. Ditto, as seen from les Charmoz" [368]
[37]. Ditto, as seen from the Cleft Station, Trélaporte" [369]
[38]. Plan of Dirt-bands taken from Johnson's 'Physical Atlas'[374]
[39]. Veined Structure on the walls of crevasses[381]
[40]. Figure explanatory of the Marginal Structure[383]
[41]. Plan of part of ice-fall, and of glacier below it (Glacier of the Rhone)[386]
[42]. Section of ditto[386]
[43]. Figure explanatory of Longitudinal Structure[388]
[44]. Structure and bedding on the Great Aletsch Glacier[391]
[45], [46]. Structure and Stratification on the Furgge glacier[394]
[47]. Diagram illustrating Differential Motion[395]
[48], [49]. Diagrams explanatory of the formation of Ripples[400], [403]
[50], [51]. Appearance of a prism of ice partially liquefied by Pressure.[410]
[52], [53]. Figures illustrative of compression and liquefaction of ice.[411]
[54], [55]. Sections of White Ice-seams[414]
[56], [57]. Variations in the Dip of the Veined Structure[414], [415]
[58]. Section of three glacier Crumples[416]
[59]. Wall of a crevasse, with incipient crumpling[416]
[60]. Plan of a Stream on the Glacier du Géant[418]
[61]. Plan of a Seam of White Ice on ditto[418]
PART I.
CHIEFLY NARRATIVE.
Ages are your days,
Ye grand expressors of the present tense
And types of permanence;
Firm ensigns of the fatal Being
Amid these coward shapes of joy and grief
That will not bide the seeing.
Hither we bring
Our insect miseries to the rocks,
And the whole flight with pestering wing
Vanish and end their murmuring,
Vanish beside these dedicated blocks.
Emerson
GLACIERS OF THE ALPS.
INTRODUCTORY.
(1.)
In the autumn of 1854 I attended the meeting of the British Association at Liverpool; and, after it was over, availed myself of my position to make an excursion into North Wales. Guided by a friend who knew the country, I became acquainted with its chief beauties, and concluded the expedition by a visit to Bangor and the neighbouring slate quarries of Penrhyn.
From my boyhood I had been accustomed to handle slates; had seen them used as roofing materials, and had worked the usual amount of arithmetic upon them at school; but now, as I saw the rocks blasted, the broken masses removed to the sheds surrounding the quarry, and there cloven into thin plates, a new interest was excited, and I could not help asking after the cause of this extraordinary property of cleavage. It sufficed to strike the point of an iron instrument into the edge of a plate of rock to cause the mass to yield and open, as wood opens in advance of a wedge driven into it. I walked round the quarry and observed that the planes of cleavage were everywhere parallel; the rock was capable of being split in one direction only, and this direction remained perfectly constant throughout the entire quarry.
CLEAVAGE OF SLATE ROCKS.
I was puzzled, and, on expressing my perplexity to my companion, he suggested that the cleavage was nothing more than the layers in which the rock had been originally deposited, and which, by some subsequent disturbance, had been set on end, like the strata of the sandstone rocks and chalk cliffs of Alum Bay. But though I was too ignorant to combat this notion successfully, it by no means satisfied me. I did not know that at the time of my visit this very question of slaty cleavage was exciting the greatest attention among English geologists, and I quitted the place with that feeling of intellectual discontent which, however unpleasant it may be for a time, is very useful as a stimulant, and perhaps as necessary to the true appreciation of knowledge as a healthy appetite is to the enjoyment of food.
On inquiry I found that the subject had been treated by three English writers, Professor Sedgwick, Mr. Daniel Sharpe, and Mr. Sorby. From Professor Sedgwick I learned that cleavage and stratification were things totally distinct from each other; that in many cases the strata could be observed with the cleavage passing through them at a high angle; and that this was the case throughout vast areas in North Wales and Cumberland. I read the lucid and important memoir of this eminent geologist with great interest: it placed the data of the problem before me, as far as they were then known, and I found myself, to some extent at least, in a condition to appreciate the value of a theoretic explanation.
Everybody has heard of the force of gravitation, and of that of cohesion; but there is a more subtle play of forces exerted by the molecules of bodies upon each other when these molecules possess sufficient freedom of action. In virtue of such forces, the ultimate particles of matter are enabled to build themselves up into those wondrous edifices which we call crystals. A diamond is a crystal self-erected from atoms of carbon; an amethyst is a crystal built up from particles of silica; Iceland spar is a crystal built by particles of carbonate of lime. By artificial means we can allow the particles of bodies the free play necessary to their crystallization. Thus a solution of saltpetre exposed to slow evaporation produces crystals of saltpetre; alum crystals of great size and beauty may be obtained in a similar manner; and in the formation of a bit of common sugar-candy there are agencies at play, the contemplation of which, as mere objects of thought, is sufficient to make the wisest philosopher bow down in wonder, and confess himself a child.
CRYSTALLIZATION THEORY.
The particles of certain crystalline bodies are found to arrange themselves in layers, like courses of atomic masonry, and along these layers such crystals may be easily cloven into the thinnest laminæ. Some crystals possess one such direction in which they may be cloven, some several; some, on the other hand, may be split with different facility in different directions. Rock salt may be cloven with equal facility in three directions at right angles to each other; that is, it may be split into cubes; calcspar may be cloven in three directions oblique to each other; that is, into rhomboids. Heavy spar may also be cloven in three directions, but one cleavage is much more perfect, or more eminent as it is sometimes called, than the rest. Mica is a crystal which cleaves very readily in one direction, and it is sufficiently tough to furnish films of extreme tenuity: finally, any boy, with sufficient skill, who tries a good crystal of sugar-candy in various directions with the blade of his penknife, will find that it possesses one direction in particular, along which, if the blade of the knife be placed and struck, the crystal will split into plates possessing clean and shining surfaces of cleavage.
POLAR FORCES.
Professor Sedgwick was intimately acquainted with all these facts, and a great many more, when he investigated the cleavage of slate rocks; and seeing no other explanation open to him, he ascribed to slaty cleavage a crystalline origin. He supposed that the particles of slate rock were acted on, after their deposition, by "polar forces," which so arranged them as to produce the cleavage. According to this theory, therefore, Honister Crag and the cliffs of Penrhyn are to be regarded as portions of enormous crystals; a length of time commensurate with the vastness of the supposed action being assumed to have elapsed between the deposition of the rock and its final crystallization.
When, however, we look closely into this bold and beautiful hypothesis, we find that the only analogy which exists between the physical structure of slate rocks and of crystals is this single one of cleavage. Such a coincidence might fairly give rise to the conjecture that both were due to a common cause; but there is great difficulty in accepting this as a theoretic truth. When we examine the structure of a slate rock, we find that the substance is composed of the débris of former rocks; that it was once a fine mud, composed of particles of sensible magnitude. Is it meant that these particles, each taken as a whole, were re-arranged after deposition? If so, the force which effected such an arrangement must be wholly different from that of crystallization, for the latter is essentially molecular. What is this force? Nature, as far as we know, furnishes none competent, under the conditions, to produce the effect. Is it meant that the molecules composing these sensible particles have re-arranged themselves? We find no evidence of such an action in the individual fragments: the mica is still mica, and possesses all the properties of mica; and so of the other ingredients of which the rock is composed. Independent of this, that an aggregate of heterogeneous mineral fragments should, without any assignable external cause, so shift its molecules as to produce a plane of cleavage common to them all, is, in my opinion, an assumption too heavy for any theory to bear.
Nevertheless, the paper of Professor Sedgwick invested the subject of slaty cleavage with an interest not to be forgotten, and proved the stimulus to further inquiry. The structure of slate rocks was more closely examined; the fossils which they contained were subjected to rigid scrutiny, and their shapes compared with those of the same species taken from other rocks. Thus proceeding, the late Mr. Daniel Sharpe found that the fossils contained in slate rocks are distorted in shape, being uniformly flattened out in the direction of the planes of cleavage. Here, then, was a fact of capital importance,—the shells became the indicators of an action to which the mass containing them had been subjected; they demonstrated the operation of pressure acting at right angles to the planes of cleavage.
MECHANICAL THEORY.
The more the subject was investigated, the more clearly were the evidences of pressure made out. Subsequent to Mr. Sharpe, Mr. Sorby entered upon this field of inquiry. With great skill and patience he prepared sections of slate rock, which he submitted to microscopic examination, and his observations showed that the evidences of pressure could be plainly traced, even in his minute specimens. The subject has been since ably followed up by Professors Haughton, Harkness, and others; but to the two gentlemen first mentioned we are, I think, indebted for the prime facts on which rests the mechanical theory of slaty cleavage.[A]
LECTURE AT THE ROYAL INSTITUTION.
The observations just referred to showed the co-existence of the two phenomena, but they did not prove that pressure and cleavage stood to each other in the relation of cause and effect. "Can the pressure produce the cleavage?" was still an open question, and it was one which mere reasoning, unaided by experiment, was incompetent to answer. Sharpe despaired of an experimental solution, regarding our means as inadequate, and our time on earth too short to produce the result. Mr. Sorby was more hopeful. Submitting mixtures of gypsum and oxide of iron scales to pressure, he found that the scales set themselves approximately at right angles to the direction in which the pressure was applied. The position of the scales resembled that of the plates of mica which his researches had disclosed to him in slate rock, and he inferred that the presence of such plates, and of flat or elongated fragments generally, lying all in the same general direction, was the cause of slaty cleavage. At the meeting of the British Association at Glasgow, in 1855, I had the pleasure of seeing some of Mr. Sorby's specimens, and, though the cleavage they exhibited was very rough, still, the tendency to yield at right angles to the direction in which the pressure had been applied, appeared sufficiently manifest.
At the time now referred to I was engaged, and had been for a long time previously, in examining the effects of pressure upon the magnetic force, and, as far back as 1851, I had noticed that some of the bodies which I had subjected to pressure exhibited a cleavage of surpassing beauty and delicacy. The bearing of such facts upon the present question now forcibly occurred to me. I followed up the observations; visited slate yards and quarries, observed the exfoliation of rails, the fibres of iron, the structure of tiles, pottery, and cheese, and had several practical lessons in the manufacture of puff-paste and other laminated confectionery. My observations, I thought, pointed to a theory of slaty cleavage different from any previously given, and which, moreover, referred a great number of apparently unrelated phenomena to a common cause. On the 10th of June, 1856, I made them the subject of a Friday evening's discourse at the Royal Institution.[B]
ORIGIN OF RESEARCHES.
Such are the circumstances, apparently remote enough, under which my connexion with glaciers originated. My friend Professor Huxley was present at the lecture referred to: he was well acquainted with the work of Professor Forbes, entitled 'Travels in the Alps,' and he surmised that the question of slaty cleavage, in its new aspect, might have some bearing upon the laminated structure of glacier-ice discussed in the work referred to. He therefore urged me to read the 'Travels,' which I did with care, and the book made the same impression upon me that it had produced upon my friend. We were both going to Switzerland that year, and it required but a slight modification of our plans to arrange a joint excursion over some of the glaciers of the Oberland, and thus afford ourselves the means of observing together the veined structure of the ice.
Had the results of this arrangement been revealed to me beforehand, I should have paused before entering upon an investigation which required of me so long a renunciation of my old and more favourite pursuits. But no man knows when he commences the examination of a physical problem into what new and complicated mental alliances it may lead him. No fragment of nature can be studied alone; each part is related to every other part; and hence it is, that, following up the links of law which connect phenomena, the physical investigator often finds himself led far beyond the scope of his original intentions, the danger in this respect augmenting in direct proportion to the wish of the inquirer to render his knowledge solid and complete.
A BOY'S BOOK.
When the idea of writing this book first occurred to me, it was not my intention to confine myself to the glaciers alone, but to make the work a vehicle for the familiar explanation of such general physical phenomena as had come under my notice. Nor did I intend to address it to a cultured man of science, but to a youth of average intelligence, and furnished with the education which England now offers to the young. I wished indeed to make it a boy's class-book, which should reveal the mode of life, as well as the scientific objects, of an explorer of the Alps. The incidents of the past year have caused me to deviate, in some degree, from this intention, but its traces will be sufficiently manifest; and this reference to it will, I trust, excuse an occasional liberty of style and simplicity of treatment which would be out of place if intended for a reader of riper years.