352 ALPS Eosa, 15,150; Mont Cervin, 14,835; LeGeant, 13,800; Aiguille du Midi, 12, 743 ; MontVelan, 11,063; Pic Blanc, E. of Monte Rosa, 11,190. V. The Lepontine or Helvetian Alps, includ- ing the divergent chain known as the Bernese Alps. This division covers western Switzer- land, extending on both sides of the Rhone, di- viding Lombardy from Switzerland, and one branch terminating at Monte Bernardino, while the other extends to and unites with the Jura mountains N. of Lake Geneva. This portion of the Alps is more visited than any other, and comprises the finest mountain scenery in Eu- rope. Its most elevated peaks are : the Finster- aarhorn, 14,106ft.; the Furca, 14,037; the Jungfrau, 13,718; the Monch, 13,498; the Schreckhorn, 13,386; the Eiger, 13,075; the Blumlis Alp, 12,140; Monte Leone, on the Simplon, 11,541; the Galenstock, the highest of the St. Gothard group, 12,481 ; the Moschelhorn, in the Rheinwald, 10,870; the Grimsel, 9,704. VI. The Rhsetian Alps, commencing at Monte Bernardino, extend- ing along the frontiers of Switzerland, Italy, and Austria, and terminating at the N. E. extremity of the Tyrol. The principal sum- raits are : Mount Julier, 13,855 ft. ; the Ortler- spitze, 12,852; Monte della Disgrazia, 12,060; the Wetterhorn, 12,176; Monte Gavis, 11,754; the Dodi, 11,735; and several other peaks of nearly the same altitude. VII. The None Alps, commencing at Dreiherrenspitze, where the preceding division terminates, extend through Salzburg, northern Carinthia, Styria, and Upper and Lower Austria, forming the dividing line of the basins of the Salza and the Drave. Their highest peaks are : the Gross-Glockner, on the confines of Tyrol and Salzburg, 12,776 ft. ; the Wisbachhorn, in Carinthia, 11,518; the Hohen- wart, in Carinthia, 11,075; together with sev- eral other summits nearly 10,000 feet high. VIII. The Carnic Alps, extending, on the con- fines of Venetia and Carinthia, from Pellegrino to Terglou, separating the waters of the Gail from those that flow into the gulf of Venice, and sending out a spur to divide the waters of the Save and the Drave. Its highest peak is La Marmoluta, 11,508 ft. IX. From Terglou this chain is prolonged through Gorz and Car- niola to Mount Kleck under the name of the Julian or Pannonian Alps. Its loftiest summit is the Terglou, 10,866 ft. X. A southern con- tinuation, called the Dinaric Alps, extends from Mount Kleck through Croatia, Dalmatia, and Herzegovina, to the neighborhood of the Bal- kan. The St. Gothard range is the culminat- ing point of all these chains of the Alps, and is distant in a direct line from the Mediterranean about 150 miles, 225 from the Adriatic, 525 from the Atlantic, 500 from the North sea, and 550 from the Baltic. It will be evident from these distances that the southern slope is far more rapid and precipitous than the northern. The line of permanent snow for the whole Alps averages about 8,000 to 9,000 feet of alti- tude. On the northern slope it is usually 600 or 700 feet lower than on the southern. The glaciers of the Alps (German, Gletscher) form one of the most remarkable features. From the peaks, more than 400 in number, which rise above the line of perpetual snow, there descends into the valleys below a mass of par- tially melted snow and comminuted ice, often of very great extent. Constantly pressed for- ward by the accumulation of ice and snow be- hind it, nothing can resist its onward progress ; trees, rocks, houses, all are borne forward on its slow-moving surface, till it reaches the point where the sun's rays are sufficiently fervid to melt the mass, when it forms the source of some mighty river. Often these glaciers pre- sent a comparatively smooth surface, the pieces of ice of which they are composed varying in size from a pea to a walnut, but not unseldom they are rent by huge fissures, which are impassable by travellers. The most remark- able of these Alpine reservoirs are the glaciers of Mont Blanc, which cover an area of from 90 to 100 square miles. The Mer de Glace, the largest of these, on the northern declivity of the mountain, is 15 miles long, from 3 to 6 miles wide, and from 80 to 120 feet thick. (See GLACIER.) The whirlwinds of the Alps are worthy of notice, not only from their ter- rific violence, often overwhelming the hap- less traveller with the blinding snow, but from their frequently setting in motion the dreaded avalanche. So precipitous are many of the slopes of the Alpine peaks, that the giving way of a slight barrier, a tree or bowl- der, perhaps, is sufficient to detach from its original position a vast mass of snow and ice ; this, gathering force from its fall, brings sud- den and inevitable destruction on whatever may be on its track, burying at times whole villages, crushing extensive forests, and fill- ing up the beds of rivers. In some parts of the Alps, these masses are so delicately poised that the jar of a footstep, the ringing of a small bell, the breaking of a stick even, is sufficient to cause their precipitation. The optical illusions of the Alps, resulting from a condition of the atmosphere analogous to that of the mirage, have been the subject of much comment. The spectre of the Brocken is the most remarkable of these. It is observed on one of the summits of the Noric Alps. Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe, was first ascended in 1786 by Jacques Balmat, and soon afterward by Dr. Paccard and De Saussure. Its ascent is now a common though dangerous feat of adventurous travellers. The geological structure of the Alps has long puzzled geologists and given rise to most various and ably sup- ported views. By some, the whole mass com- posing Mont Blanc and surrounding mountains was considered metamorphic and of compara- tively recent date ; others regarded the nucleus as primitive and of great antiquity, while the stratified rocks on the lower Alps were referred to different ages from carboniferous to miocene. The presence of carboniferous plants in forma-
