he glacier is most easily
penetrated by water, namely, in the region of the _neve_ and in the
upper portion of the glacier-troughs, where the _neve_ begins to be
transformed into more or less porous ice. This cause also accounts, in
part at least, for another singular fact in the motion of the glacier:
that, in its higher levels, where its character is more porous and the
water entering at the surface sinks readily to the bottom, there the
bottom seems to move more rapidly than the superficial parts of the
mass, whereas at the lower end of the glacier, in the region of the
compact ice, where the infiltration of the water at the bottom is at its
minimum, while the disintegrating influences at the surface admit of
infiltration to a certain limited depth, there the motion is greater
near the surface than toward the bottom. But, under all circumstances,
it is plain that the various causes producing motion, gravitation,
pressure, infiltration of water, frost, will combine to propel the mass
at a greater rate along its axis than near its margins. For details
concerning the facts of the case, I would refer to my work entitled
"Systeme Glaciaire."

We will next consider the stratification of the glacier. I have stated
in my introductory remarks, that I consider this to be one of its
primary and fundamental features, and I confess, that, after a careful
examination of the results obtained by my successors in the field of
glacial phenomena, I still believe that the original stratification of
the mass of snow from which the glacier arises gives us the key to many
facts of its internal structure. The ultimate features resulting from
this connection are so exceedingly intricate and entangled that their
relation is not easily explained. Nevertheless, I trust my readers will
follow me in this Alpine excursion, where I shall try to smooth the
asperities of the road for them as much as possible.

Imparted to it, at the very beginning of its formation, by the manner in
which snow accumulates, and retained through all its transformations,
the stratification of a glacier, however distorted, and at times almost
obliterated, remains, notwithstanding, as distinct to one who is
acquainted with all its phases, as is the stratified character of
metamorphic rocks to the skilful geologist, even though they may be
readily mistaken for plutonic masses by the common observer. Indeed,
even those secondary features, as the dirt-bands, for instance, wh