. Hours of exercise in the y tothe entire accuracy of Professor Tyndalls can add no facts of any importance to those therementioned, unless it be that we estimated the dis-tance down which we were carried at fully 1,000feet—a conclusion which, Mr. Tyndall tells me, wasconfirmed by his subsequent visit to the spot. Theangle of the slope we did not measure, nor can I 218 HOURS OF EXERCISE IN THE ALPS. [1864 give the time of our descent with any accuracy ; itseemed to me a lifetime. From the moment thatthe snow cracked, Jenni behaved with the greatestcoolness and courage. But he
. Hours of exercise in the y tothe entire accuracy of Professor Tyndalls can add no facts of any importance to those therementioned, unless it be that we estimated the dis-tance down which we were carried at fully 1,000feet—a conclusion which, Mr. Tyndall tells me, wasconfirmed by his subsequent visit to the spot. Theangle of the slope we did not measure, nor can I 218 HOURS OF EXERCISE IN THE ALPS. [1864 give the time of our descent with any accuracy ; itseemed to me a lifetime. From the moment thatthe snow cracked, Jenni behaved with the greatestcoolness and courage. But he ought not to havetaken us down the ice-slope so late in the day—itwas then nearly half-past two oclock—and thatafter a warning word from Professor Tyndall andmyself. Of Walters conduct the less said thebetter; our opinion of his courage was not raisedby this trial of it. [Until Mr. Grossetts letter reached me a few daysago I was not aware of the singular likeness betweenthe loss of Bennens watch and of my —April1B7L]. THE GORGE OF FFEFFERS (SHOWING EROSIVE ACTION). I8CA ALPINE SCULPTURE. 219 XX. ALPINE SCULPTURE. To the physical geologist the conformation of theAlps, and of mountain-regions generally, constitutesone of the most interesting problems of the presentday. To account for this conformation, two hypo-theses have been advanced, which may be respect-ively named the hypothesis of fracture and thehypothesis of erosion. Those who adopt the for-mer maintain that the forces by which the Alpswere elevated produced fissures in the earths crust,and that the valleys of the Alps are the tracks ofthese fissures. Those who hold the latter hypothesismaintain that the valleys have been cut out by theaction of ice and water, the mountains themselvesbeing the residual forms of this grand the erosive action here indicated must be addedthat due to the atmosphere (the severance and de-tachment of rocks by rain and frost), as affectingthe forms of the more exposed
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectmountai, bookyear1896
