HOURS OF EXERCISE IN THE ALPS. BY JOHN TYNDALL, LL.D., F. R. S., AUTHOR OF "FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE FOR UNSCIENTIFIC PEOPLE," "HEAT NEW YORK: D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 549 & 551 BROADWAY. 1871. PREFACE. A SHORT TIME AGO I published a book of Fragments,' which might have been called Hours of Exercise in the Attic and the Laboratory'; while this one bears the title of Hours of Exercise in the Alps.' The two volumes supplement each other, and, taken together, illustrate the mode in which a lover of natural knowledge and of natural scenery chooses to spend his life. Much as I enjoy the work, I do not think that I could have filled my days and hours in the Alps with clambering alone. The climbing in many cases was the peg on which a thousand other exercises' were hung. The present volume, however, is for the most part a record of bodily action, written partly to preserve to myself the memory of strong and joyous hours, and partly for the pleasure of those who find exhilaration in descriptions associated with mountain life. |