(F) BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bibliography of the Alps
The number of publications relating to the Alps has been so largely increased during the last quarter of a century that a bare graph of catalogue would fill a considerable space. The majority of these are of a narrative and descriptive character, and do not add much to our knowledge of the Alps, either topographically ort scientifically. It will suffice to give here a brief list of the chief works that may fairly be considered to have achieved the object. Works of exclusively scientific character, especially those relating to Alpine geology, are separately enumerated.
Scheuchzer (J.J.), Itinera Alpina, Leyden, 1723. Grüner, Die Eisgebirge des Schweizerlandes, Bern, 1760. Saussure (H. B. de), Voyages dans les Alpes, Neuchâtel, 1803-6. Hugi (J.J.), Naturhistorische Alpenreise, Solothurn, 1830. Agassiz (L.), Estudes sur les Glaciers, Neuchâtel, 1840; Système Glacaire, ou Nouvelles Etudes, &c., Paris, 1847. Forbes (j.D.), Travels through the Alps of Savoy, &c., Edinburgh, 1843. Desor (E.), Excursions et Sèjours dans les Glaviers et les Hautes Régions des Alpes; 2 series, Neuchâtel, 1844-5. Saluzzo (A. di), Le Alpi che cingono l’Italia, 1ma Parte, Torino, 1845. Schlagintweit (H. und A.), Untersuchugen über die Physicalische Geographie die Alpen; 2 series, Leipzig, 1850-4. Tyndall (J.), The Glaciers of the Alps, London, 1860. Berlepsch (H. A.), Die Alpen in Natur-und Lebensbildern dargestellt, Leipzig, 1861. Browne (Rev. G. F.), Ice-caves of France and Switzerland, London, 1865. Morell, Scientific Guide to Switzerland, London, 1866. Sonklar (Karl von), Die Oetzthaler Gebirgsgruppe, &c., Gotha, 1860; Die gebirgsgruppe der Hohen Tauern, &c., Wien, 1866. Schaubach Die deutsche Alpen; 2d edition, Jena, 1865-71. Bonney (Rev. T. G.), The Alpine Regions of Switzerland and the neighbouring countries, Cambridge and London, 1868. Ball (J.), The Alpine Guide; new edition, in ten parts, London, 1873. Considerable additions to our knowledge of the Alps are also to be found in the periodical publications of the English, Swiss, Austrian, Italian, and German Alpine Clubs; and also in papers that have appeared in Petermann’sGeographische Mittheilungen.
No general zoological works of a purely scientific character relating exclusively to the fauna of the Alps can be quoted; but much valuable informnation, conveyed in a popular form, will be found in Tschudi’s Thierleben der Alpenwelt, of which translations have appeared in English and French. The want of a compact work containing descriptions of all the plants of the Alps has been much felt by botanists. Those of Switzerland and the Eastern Alps are included in Koch’s Synopsis Floræ Germanicæ et Helveticæ, a work of high authority, written in Latin; but it does not comprehend the species peculiar to Piedmont and the Western Alps. An illustrated work, by J. C. Weber, Die Alpenpflanzen Deutschlands und der Schweiz, nay also be recommended. Of numerous books and memoirs connected with the geology of the Alps, the following deserve special mention : --- L. von Buch, Geologische Beobachtungen auf Reisen, 1802. Sir R. I. Murchison, On the Geological Structure of the Alps, the Apennines, and the Carpathians, Quart-Journal Geol. Soc. Of London, vol. v.; a translation of this important memoir into Italian, with an appendix, by P. Savi and G. Meneghini, Florence, 1851. Sedgwick and Murchison, On the Geology of the eastern Alps, trans. Geol. Soc. Lond. 1832. J. de Charpentier, Essai sur les Glaciers et sur le Terrain Erratique du Bassin du Rhone, 1841. B. Studer, Geologie der Schweiz, 1853; Id. Id. Index der Petrographie und Stratigraphie der Schweiz, &c., Born, 1872. A. Stoppani, Studii Geologichi e Paleontologichi sulla Lombardia, 1857. C. Lory, Description Géologique du Dauphiné, 1860. Gümbel, geologie des Königreichs Bayern, 1861. O. Heer, Die Urwelt der Schweiz, Zürich, 1865. E. Desor, Der Gebirgsbau der Alpen, &c., Wiesbaden, 1865. A. Favre, Recherches Géologiques dans les Parties de la Savoie, &c.; Voisines du Mont Blanc, Genéve, 1867. L. Rütimeyer, Ueber Thal-und Seebilding, Basel, 1869. A copious collection of facts and observations bearing on the physics and recent geology of the Alps will be found in a work by M. Dollfuss-Ausset, Matériaux pou l’Etude des Glaciers, of which nine volumes have appeared. Many important contributions to Alpine geology are scattered through the Proceedings of scientific societies. The bulletin of the French Geological Society contains valuable papers by Collegno, Dausse, Gras, Huber, Mortillet, Omboni, Rozet, and others. The geology of the Austrian Alps is illustrated by numerous papers in the Juhrbuch der k. k. Reichsanstalt. The memoirs of A. Sismonda and B. Gastaldi, in the Memorie della R. Academia di Torino, must be consulted by those who would study the geology of Piedmont. The phenomena of the motion and structure of glaciers have been discussed in numerous papers that have appeared in the London and Edinburgh Philosophical magazine during the last thirty years. The important memoirs of Professor tyndall were published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1857, 1858, and 1859; and those of the late Mr. Hopkins in the Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, vil. Viii. Various contributions to illustrate and enforce the views first set forth by the late principal Forbes in his Travels through the Alps were published in a collected form by Messrs Black, Edinburgh, in 1859.
With the exception of special maps of small districts, the only maps of the Alps founded on actual survey are those which have been published under the authority of the governments whose territory is concerned. Among these the first place is due to the federal map of Switzerland, executed under the direction of general Dufour, on the scale 1/100,000 in 25 sheets. Considering the difficulty of the task, this is unsurpassed both for accuracy and skill in execution. The Austrian war office has brought out, during the last sixty years, a series of maps, executed on a large scale, of the several states of the empire. These are of very unequal merit. That of the kingdom of Venetian Lombardy, in 42 sheets, on the scale of 1/86,400, has considerable merit, but falls short of the standard of the Swiss map. A new map of Tyrol is in preparation, and will doubtless sustain the reutaion of Austrian cartographers. The general map of Piedmont, in 91 sheets, on the scale 1/50,000 is sufficiently correct as regards the inhabited districts, but quite unsatisfactory as regards the higher region. Until lately there existed no tolerable map of the Alpine provinces of France. The general map of France, on the scale 1/80,000 has of late years been extended to the greater part of Dauphiné, and will before long include the newly-acquired departments of Savoy and Nice. The portion already published is quite on a level with modern requirements, and reflects credit on the French was department. The only tolerable map that includes the entire chain of the Alps is that compiled by J. G. mayr. It is on a small scale (1/450,000), and is not free from serious errors. A map published by Wörl, in 48 sheets, on a scale 1/200,000 entitled "Atlas von Südwest Deutschland und dem Alpenlande," is very unsatisfactory. Scheda’s general map of the Austrian Empire and adjoining territories, in 20 sheets, is an excellent compilation. It includes the Alps as far west as Monte Rosa and the lake of thun, but the scale (1/576,000) is inconveniently small.
Of geological maps including any considerable portion of the Alps the following deserve to be specified: ---
Favre (A.), Carte Géologique des Parties de la Savoie, &c., Voisines du Mont Blanc. Gümbel, Geognostische karte des Königreicha Bayern. Hauer (F. von), Geologische Uebersichtskarte der Oesterreichischen Monarchie; sheets 5 and 6 include the Austrian Alps. Lory (C.) carte Géologique du Dauphiné. Morlot, Uebersichtskarte der Nordöstlichen Alpen. Sismonda (A.), Carta Geologicadi Savoja, Piemonte, e Liguria. Société Géologique de France, Carte Géologique de la Savoie. Studer (B.) u. Escher v. d. Linth, Carte Géologique de la Suisse. (J. B.)
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The above article was written by: John Ball, barrister; Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1865; was first President of the Alpine Club; part author of A Tour in Morocco and the Great Atlas; contributor to the proceedings of several learned societies.