This drawing of the Glacier des Evettes, sketched circa 1909-1910 by Emmanuel de Martonne in one of his 27 field notebooks, shows the interest of the French geographer for glaciers and his research on their erosive action. The drawing and notes are related to the photographic glass plate taken by Emmanuel de Martonne on the spot.
Domenico Guglielmini (1655-1710) was an Italian mathematician. In 1686 he was nominated “general intendant of the waters” in the Bologna area. Thanks to the fame he gained through hydraulic works, in 1694 Gugliemini obtained the chair in hydrometry at the University of Bologna. This book, first published in 1697, is considered his masterpiece. It discusses the nature of rivers and their parts, the motion of water, estuaries and confluents, riverbanks, and the kind of materials carried by rivers. The use of Italian (instead of Latin) demonstrates Guglielmini's intention to circulate the text among a relatively wide audience, which could appreciate the public usefulness of his researches. What is presented here is the second edition of the treatise, with the annotations of Eustachio Manfredi, who was Gugliemini's successor in the office of “general intendant of the waters” in Bologna.
This is one of the photographs under glass plate of the collection "Emmanuel de Martonne " which contains about 11,000 pictures. It shows the interest of geographer E. de Martonne for glaciers and his questioning on their erosive action.The handwritten legend on the original document reads: "Alps: Valleys, internal alpine massifs: Maurienne: Glacier des Evettes (Hte-Maurienne) seen from the refuge, middle glacial drift - terminal basin with small lakes" .
