OR FREEZING CAVERNS BY EDWIN SWIFT BALCH A. B. ( Harvard ); F. R. G. S. Member of the Franklin Institute Of the Appalachian Mountain Club Of the American Philosophical Society Author of “Mountain Exploration,” &c. Philadelphia ALLEN, LANE & SCOTT 1900 Copyright, 1900, by EDWIN SWIFT BALCH. Press of ALLEN, LANE & SCOTT, Philadelphia, Pa. THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED TO MY MOTHER, WHOSE DEEP INTEREST IN MY WORK HAS HELPED ME GREATLY. PRELIMINARY NOTE. Many kind fri

EXPERIENCES IN GLACIÈRES. EXPERIENCES IN GLACIÈRES. SUBTERRANEAN ICE IN KING’S RAVINE. Subterranean ice was brought to my notice by a mere accident, late in the month of September, 1877, while on a descent of King’s Ravine, on Mount Adams, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. We had just descended the rock wall of the mountain and had reached the head of the gorge, when my companion, Mr. Charles E. Lowe, the well-known Appalachian guide of Randolph, suddenly said to me, “Would you like a pie

Terminology. —Ice enduring the entire year is found, in temperate latitudes, in a variety of forms and in several different kinds of places. In some cases it is entirely above the surface of the earth; in others it is entirely beneath the surface of the earth. These are the extremes, and between them there are certain intermediate forms. The perennial ice above ground of temperate regions has gradually become known in English by the French word glacier , but strange to say, there is no term in u

The cause of the formation of subterranean ice is undoubtedly one of the most intricate problems in connection with caverns. Various theories have been advanced why ice is found in certain caves and not in others. Some writers have held that it is a remnant of a glacial period; others that it is owing to the presence of salts in the rocks; some have said that it is due to the rocks retarding waves of heat and cold; and still others think that it is formed by pressure on the percolating waters. M

I have already said that I believe that the cold of winter is the cause of the ice in caves. To make this clearer, I may say that I look on glacières as the last outcrop, the outside edge, so to speak, of the area of low temperatures, which has its culminating point in the Northern Hemisphere in the Arctic Ocean, Greenland and Siberia, and in the Southern Hemisphere in the Antarctic; and which is manifested to us in the snows of mountain peaks, and immediately round us in frozen ponds and rivers

LIST OF GLACIÈRES. « 164 » « 165 » [68] This list is necessarily incomplete, and only approximately accurate in many cases. NORTH AMERICA. Buried or Fossil Glaciers, North Greenland. (W. E. Meehan, Philadelphia Ledger , 1896.)—On Robertson’s Bay is the plateau of the Verhoef Glacier, which is about 1500 meters long and 400 meters wide, and stands back only a few meters from the edge of the sea. This plateau, both top and sides, is a mass of flourishing vegetation, chiefly grass, which reaches ab

LIST OF AUTHORS. « 312 » « 313 » [75] This list of authors includes all the authorities which I have personally consulted. Several papers, such as Dr. Schwalbe’s “ Uebersichtliche Zusammenstellung Literarischer Notizen ueber Eishöhlen ” and the works of Dr. Listoff, I have been unable to find in any library. Allen, Levi. Scientific American, New Series , October 27th, 1883, page 259. American Journal of Science and Arts , 1839, vol. XXXVI., page 184. Auchincloss, W. S. , C. E. Waters within the