1854.] 



ICE TABLE. 



123 



The table indicates nearly an average increase of ice 

 of half an inch per diem, from which I derive the follow- 

 ing inference. 



That as the sea is, during the winter, constantly in a 

 condition to freeze upon the slightest decrease of tempe- 

 rature, that Nature kindly interposes her good offices to 

 prevent its freezing solid to the bottom, by the compen- 

 sation derived from the accumulation of heat beneath the 

 frozen crust, resulting from the law of heat and vapour 

 evolved in the act of freezing. 



This collection of globules of warm air may be dis- 



* There is some doubt about this measurement. 



t This concludes the table, as far as the gauge is concerned, 



