Ice-Caves of France and Switzerland

by G. F. Browne

[58]

Philosophical Magazine, Aug. 1829.

[59]

Colonel Dufour guessed the elevation of the cave, in 1822, at two-thirds the height of the Niesen, and forty years after, as General Dufour, he published the result of the scientific survey of Switzerland, which makes it 1,780 mètres; so that his early guess was not a bad one.

[60]

There is a hint of something of this kind in an editorial note in the Journal des Mines (now Annales des Mines) of Prairial, an. iv. pp. 71, 72, in connection with the glacière near Besançon.

[61]

M. Soret, who visited the Schafloch in September 1860, and communicated his notes to M. Thury, speaks of many columns in this part of the glacière, where we found only two. 'L'un d'entre eux,' he says, 'présentait dans sa partie inférieure une petite grotte ou cavité, assez grande pour qu'un homme pût y entrer en se courbant.'

[62]

See also the note at the end of this chapter.