The most interesting night of the late season of the Royal Institution,
was the lecture or narrative, given by Dr. Clarke of his ascent of Mont
Blanc in 1825. Dr. Clarke led his audience from Geneva to the summit,
detailing the enterprise, which, however, he considers not by any means so
dangerous as has been represented. At 9,000 feet above the level of the
Mediterranean the air becomes extremely rarified, and the sky exhibits a
blue-black appearance. He does not consider it at all safe for persons to
attempt the ascent, having a tendency to apoplexy, for at the height of
15,000 feet above the level of the sea, the extremely rarified state of the
air, as well as the almost unbearable oppression of the sun's rays, though
surrounded with snow, would increase that tendency to an alarming extent.
So oppressive is the sun, that on sitting down in the shade he was asleep
instantly. The passage, just above the Grande Plateau (a surface of ice
and snow, many acres in extent, 10,000 feet above the level of the sea) is
a point of great difficulty. This chink is about seven feet wide and of
immeasurable depth. To get over it the guides first proceed to render the
passage more easy. He cautions travellers to pay implicit attention to
guides, as the accident in 1822, when three persons sunk into the caverns
of snow, was occasioned by this want of caution. It is appalling, said Dr.
Clarke, to be carried over an abyss of unknown depth, slung upon cords and
drawn over. On arriving at the summit of Mont Blanc the toils are amply
repaid. Language cannot depict the scene before the traveller. The eye
wanders over immeasurable space. The sky appears to recede, and the vision
possesses double power. The Alpine scenery here is awfully grand, and the
alternate thaw and freezing (for when the sun is down it freezes rapidly)
produces the most grotesque figures. The only living creature found on the
summit of Mont Blanc is a small white butterfly (the _ansonia_,) which
flits over the snow. The chamois is found 10,000 feet above the level of
the sea; Mont Blanc is 15,500 feet above the Mediterranean. Specimens were
exhibited of the compositions of all the mountains round Mont Blanc.
Periodically an immense quantity of snow falls down from the summit of the
Mont, enough, as the guide said, to crush all Europe like flies. "On
throwing stones down the precipices, thousands of feet deep, the traveller
feels an almost irresistible desire to throw himself after them!"--
_Monthly Magazine_.
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