This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1857 edition. Excerpt: ... STONE AVALANCHES. 45 be so. Two lateral moraines meet, and form a central moraine in the middle of the glacier. The glacier carries the burden on its back in its downward course. But the burden repays its gigantic horse by protecting him from the consuming heat which wastes and kills him. The ice under the ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1857 edition. Excerpt: ... STONE AVALANCHES. 45 be so. Two lateral moraines meet, and form a central moraine in the middle of the glacier. The glacier carries the burden on its back in its downward course. But the burden repays its gigantic horse by protecting him from the consuming heat which wastes and kills him. The ice under the moraine does not melt; the moraine consequently gradually becomes raised up into an immense rampart, and then the ice-table process is repeated on an enlarged scale. In describing a glacier, Imust not omit to mention the danger arising from the avalanches of rock and stone which form the moraines. Fragments of rock, undermined by the rain, the frost, and the snow, are continually breaking off. Sometimes isolated masses bound from rock to rock, and at length fall with a crash like thunder on the glacier. At other times the fragments gradually accumulate, till at length the weight is too great to support itself, and down comes the whole mass with a noise like the discharge of artillery. I have seen and heard stone avalanches of this kind. The guides know where these avalanches are in the habit of falling, and cautiously avoid such places. Some glaciers are annually increasing, and others retreating. It is believed by many of the Swiss peasants that a glacier increases for a certain number of years, and then retreats for a certain time, but this belief does not appear to rest on a solid foundation. It is, however, quite certain that many glaciers are annually increasing. The Gorner glacier, and the Stein glacier, at the summit of the Susten pass, are examples of this. Others are retreating. It is easy to know whether a glacier is on the increase or on the decrease. If increasing, the ground is raised up in ridges in advance of the glacier, which...
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Add this copy of A Lecture on Switzerland to cart. $54.95, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Palala Press.
