We are occasionally surprised by
hearing that such a man fell into a crevasse, or that four men were
killed on the Matterhorn, or five on the Lyskamm, and others elsewhere,
and we wonder why they went there. The Alps are a great object of
interest to all Europe. I have now before me a catalogue of 1,478
works on the Alps for sale by one bookseller. It seems incredible. In
this list are over a dozen volumes describing different ascents of a
single mountain, and that not the most difficult. There are
publications of learned societies on geology, entomology, paleontology,
botany, and one volume of _Philosophical and Religious Walks about Mont
Blanc_. The geology of the Alps is a most perplexing problem. The
summit of the Jungfrau, for example, consists of gneiss granite, but
two masses of Jura limestone have been thrust into it, and their ends
folded over.
It is the habit, of the Germans especially, to send students into the
Alps with a case for flowers, a net for butterflies, and a box for
bugs. Every rod is a schoolhouse. They speak of the "snow mountains"
with ardent affection. Every Englishman, having no mountains at home,
speaks and feels as if he owned the Alps. He, however, cares less for
their flowers, bugs, and butterflies than for their qualities as a
gymnasium and a measure of his physical ability.
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