Excerpt from The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, Vol. 26: New and United Series of the Philosophical Magazine, Annals of Philosophy, and Journal of Science; January June, 1845
To the Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Journal. Gentlemen,
The interest which the phenomena of glaciers has recently excited induces me to offer for insertion in your Journal, a somewhat detailed discussion of the causes of glacial motion. In doing this I shall confine myself to the sliding theory, with which we usually associate the name of De Saussure, and to that which has recently been propounded by Prof. Forbes, and which attributes the motion of glaciers to the viscosity of glacial ice. I shall omit all consideration of those theories which refer the motion in Question to the freezing and consequent expansion of water Contained within the mass of the glacier, because I believe there are at present in this country few persons who have sufficient confidence in those theories to feel much interest in the discussion of them.
Prof. Forbes's theory has been some lime before the public in his excellent work on the Alpine regions, and in various letters addressed to Prof. Jameson and others; and in the Transactions of the Philosophical Society of Cambridge there are two memoirs of mine, the object of which is to explain the nature and causes of the motion of glaciers according to the sliding theory. In my present communication I propose to embody the more important parts of these memoirs, and to add to them some further investigations, which render the analysis of the problem more complete. I shall also offer some critical remarks on the theoretical views of Prof. Forbes. In certain singes in the progress of any branch of science the discussions connected with it will necessarily assume more or less of a controversial character. Such is the ease in glacial theories at the present time.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, Vol. 26 (David Brewster)