THE FORMS OF WATER
IN CLOUDS AND RIVERS
ICE AND GLACIERS
BY
JOHN TYNDALL, LL.D., F. R. S.
WITH TWENTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS
DRAWN AND ENGRAVED UNDER THE DIRECTION
OF THE AUTHOR
NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1899
Copyright, 1872,
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.
Electrotyped and Printed
at the Appleton Press, U. S. A.
AMERICAN PREFACE TO THEINTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES.
The rapid development of science in the present age,and the increasing public interest in its results, make itdesirable that the most efficient measures should beadopted to elevate the character of its popular literature.The tendency of careless and unscrupulous book-makersto cater to public ignorance and love of the marvellous,and to foist their crude productions upon those who aretoo little instructed to judge of their real quality, hashitherto been so strong as to cast discredit upon the ideaof "popular science." It is highly important to counteractthis evil tendency by furnishing the public with popularscientific books of a superior character. The publicationof the present volume is the first step in carryingout a systematic enterprise of this kind. It initiates aseries of such works on a wide range of scientific subjects,to be prepared by the leading thinkers of differentcountries, and known as the "International Scientific Series."
It is designed to consist of compendious scientifictreatises, representing the latest advances of thoughtupon subjects of general interest, theoretical and practical,to all classes of readers. The familiar phenomenaof surrounding Nature, in their physical and chemicalaspects, the knowledge of which has recently undergonemarked extension or revision, will be considered in theirlatest interpretations. Biology, or the general scienceof life, which has lately come into prominence, will beexplained in its leading and most important principles.The subject of mind, which, under the inductive methodand on the basis of its physical accompaniments and conditions,is giving rise to a new psychology, will be treatedwith the fulness to which it is entitled. The laws ofman's social development, or the natural history of society,which are now being studied by the scientificmethod, will also receive a due share of attention. Whilethe books of this series are to deal with a wide diversityof topics, it will be a leading object of the enterprise topresent the bearings of inquiry upon the higher questionsof the time, and to throw the latest light of scienceupon the phenomena of human nature and the economyof human life.
As the first requisite of such a series of works is trustworthiness,their preparation has been confided on