New-York tribune., 1896-10-30
THE RUNNING STREAM.
1rs WORK AND ITS BATTLES.

pany.
THE GLACIERS OF THE ALPS BEING Account Mnt'o Of
he origin and PhSnomenaa Of GaGsrI to Which
They Are Related. BY John Tyndali Pp F. r. Xvi
With illustrations. New Edition Up ~N'''
AS. Longmans. Green q CO.
nonney. D. Sc. r r.. s. r. S. A.. +. c. s. PIP
xiv, 2a5 d. Appleton Co.
THE CRUISE OF THE ANTARGTICu To v,le The
Epon,,sp"ce From, @ by W. H. wyilic, \. r. A. and H.
Illustrations by W. q. Murdoch PIP. 2i5
Edward Arnold.
Much has been written in recent years ABOUT
glacial action. Almost everybody whether SCI
entific or not has an inkling OF the SUBJECT nu'
there is another topic dwelt on IN S'r 'oNn Luz
books book which is less familiar pu' ho' 'es' III
tercstina. that is the changes which occurred
in the rivers that flow down from the Alps Wheh
he describes in detail how the mountains were
formed by the shortening and folding up Oh 'he
earth's crust. and shows how strata that are now
worn AVIAN SO that the separated ends nave 10
he sought miles apart. We're once completed IN
curves that doubled the present height of the
great peaks. he is followed with more or less ap-
nreciation according to the readers knowledge
of the theme. But no preliminary knowedse Is
rooured to give vivid interest TO the thought
that AT some time in the geological past the up
Nor waters OF the Rhine all flowed into the Rhone'
or that at another time. less remote, the Danupe
and the Rhine mingled at their sources. Inc
dream of the ancient poets of waterway
through Europe was then TO dream after all. but
a reminiscence OF an actual state OF thngs-of
canoing and portage. perhaps. such as Is famil-
lar In the American Northwest. Even II one
never thought OF it before, the account of the
way in which the numerous tributaries to the
Rhine have. as II were. made war on each other-
one stealing the springs aud the whole
watershed of its rival and reducing ii to mere
rivulet compared with its earlier dimensions
comes as a thing which one ought to have known.
There is nothing in the inorganic or elemental
world that is nearer to life than running
stream. 1t can talk We have all heard IT, and
we all think that we know its language. 1t can
live its life usually long. long life, and 1t can
die What more can man do than that?
To understand by actual observation what Sir
John Lubbock means when he tells of the ad-
ventures and vcissitudes of the wars ana IN
xasions Of the streams that make the Upper
Rhine II is not necessary to visit the Alps When
he tells how the Landwasser was once a great
stream and how the Landquart "steathily crept
I'm the valley. attacked the ridge which then
united the Casanna and the Madreshorn, and.
gradually forcing the passage between Dorfii and
vereina and Sardasca. absorbed them as tribu-
taries detached them from their allegiance to
the Landwasser, and annexed the whole of the
upper province. which had formerly belonged to
that river" he tells tale the like of which Is not
far 10 seek in the environs Of NewYork City.
There Is a brook which flows into Spuyten Duyvel
Creek near Kingsbridge. after passing through
Van Cortlandt Lake that Is worthy Of study. 1t
has a name but few persons know 1t. Unless
all signs fail 1t Is older than the present course
Of the Hudson River at the foot Of the Palisades.
In its lower reaches II is filed and emptied regu-
larly by the tide. but throughout the rest OF its
course it is a clear brown stream. watering
marsh above Kingsbridge, tumbling over the old
dam in Van Cortlar DIT Park. watering the lilies
Of the lake and the newly fenced field In which
there are to be bison some day. 1t crosses the
New-York line in bit of woods just below the
village Of Lincoln Park. and its sources are to be
found near Bryn Mawr station, on the Putnam
Railroad. But what surprises the observer at
once is that on reaching the head of the stream he
finds no sign Of a watershed. There are slopes on
each side to furnish water at times, but the val
ley itself rises before the eye until 1t becomes an
open notch against the horizon. The low sides
OF this notch wooded. How II could nave
been made without running water is impossible
to see But the running water Is not there
From the Tuckahoe road 1t is easy to see the
northern edge Of the notch. But 1t Is more puz-
cling than ever For the steep hillside below
shows that no stream ever flowed northward out
of what may we'll be called Bryn Mawr Pass
The Tuckahoe road lies far below. and lower still
flow the two streams whose upper waters feed
Grassy Sprain Lake and the YOnkers Reservoir
Grassy Sprain Lake fanks vast tumbled mass
of forest covered rock which Is possibly two
miles or more in length 1t Is only when the
ppenng between this hill and those north of 1t Is
reached that the solution Of the notch and the
whole ancient river problem OF Grassy Spran
Valley bursts upon one. Sometime or other. a
single river from hills far northward flowed
through that opening at level much above the
present valley. 1t washed the slopes Of the great
fumbled rocks and passed southwark through the
notch at Bryn Mawr. What Is now the longer
stream in Sprain Valley was once mere rivulet
rounding the great rocks western cliffs. All this
struggle of old times turned to the profit OF the
Bronx, an aged and experienced river older
even than the brook whose misfortunes have
been traced. To this beautiful current flows 10
this day all the surplus water Of Grassy Sprain
Valley And the notch remains to show what
happened, just as the wider and deeper notch at
the head OF the Engadine. as described by Sir
John Lubbock, shows where the Inn once howed
high above the present Val Bregaga.
These battles OF the rivers have helped the
glaciers 20 make the contour OF the Alps
what It IL. When the reader comes to the
subject of glaciers. ne finds that the c.assi-
cal work of Professor Tyndall must still be
studied not merely as part Of the literature of
the subject. but because the Alpine Ice stream
really yielded its most important secrets to him.
IT is only when the ice work OF the whole world
is taken in review. as by Professor Bonney, that
the great additions Of later science are under
stood There Is one thing which Professor Bon