Page:The open Polar Sea- a narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States" (IA openpolarseanarr1867haye).pdf/180

 of him, that "his knowledge was extensive, his reasoning close and accurate, and his faculty of observation extraordinary;" and he early brought his splendid faculties of mind and his energy of body and profound love of truth to bear upon the elucidation of those natural phenomena which were constantly exhibited in his presence. After many years of conscientious toil, he gave to the world the results of his systematic investigations in an essay which was published in the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Savoy, entitled, "Théorie des Glaciers de la Savoie."

I will use the information acquired from this source as the basis of my present argument,—to demonstrate, by the law as interpreted to us from the Alps by this learned priest of Annecy, how the Arctic continent receives its cloak of crystals, and how it discharges the superabundant accumulation.

Rendu first observes the piling up of the mountain snows. The snow falling upon the mountains is partly converted into water, which runs away to the river, and through the river to the sea; and is partly converted into ice. The ice thus formed Rendu estimates to equal, in the Alps, fifty-eight inches annually,—"which would make Mont Blanc four hundred feet higher in a century, and four thousand feet higher in a thousand years."

"Now it is evident," observes he, "that nothing like this can occur in Nature."

This ice must be removed by the operation of some natural cause; and observation having shown that this actually takes place, Rendu occupies himself with methods to discover how Nature has performed the task; and he comes to this very rational conclusion: