26 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Feb. 1, 1866. 



wards to accumulate until it became an avalanche, 

 which, like that of Val Calanca in 1806, might 

 transport a forest from one side of the valley to the 

 other, or bring destruction like that of the valley of 

 Tawich in 1794, which buried the whole village of 

 Bueras " under the snow." 



Ice has recently been made the subject of a very 

 interesting communication to a contemporary, in 

 which the process of crystallization during liquefac- 

 tion has been thus graphically described : — " Here is 

 a block of clear ice, such as any fishmonger can 

 supply. Hows of air-bubbles can be seen running 

 parallel to each other throughout the mass, aud in 

 some irregular places there is a fine gauze-like ap- 

 pearance produced by a web of minute bubbles. 

 This is but the poetical way in which ice expresses 

 a split ; for this beautiful netting is the result of 

 nothing more than some accidental blow. Cutting 

 a slice from the block across the bubbles, let us hold 

 it close to a naked gas-flame, and now let us observe 

 it. The lamp of Aladdin could not have wrought a 

 more wondrous change. The part before clear and 

 unmarked is now studded all over with lustrous 

 stars, whose centres shine like burnished silver. A 

 fairy seems to have breathed upon the ice, and 

 caused transparent flowers of exquisite beauty sud- 

 denly to blossom in myriads within the ice, and all 

 with a charming regularity of position. It is the 

 intangible fairy-heat that has worked this spell. 

 The ice was laid down according to the same laws 

 that shape the snow into those beautiful and well- 

 known crystalline forms so often to be seen in snow- 

 storms here and elsewhere. Ice is indeed only an 

 . aggregate of crystals similar to those of snow, which, 

 lying together in perfect contact, render each other 

 invisible and the block transparent. When the 

 heat of the gas-flame entered the slab, it set to work 

 to pick the ice to pieces, by giving it, in certain 

 places; a rapid molecular shaking, and the fairy 

 flowers which appear in the warmed ice are the 

 result of this agitation. On a priori grounds, we 

 should therefore infer that the shape of these liquid 

 crystals — for they are merely water — would be the 

 same as the solid crystals which originally built up 

 the ice. This is found to be the case. The two are 

 seen to be identical, each has six rays, and the 

 serrations in both follow the common angle of 60° ; 

 just as the ice freezes, so, under suitable conditions, 

 it liquefies ; the ice-flowers, or negative crystals, ap- 

 pearing in the same plane as that in which they 

 were formed. The air-bubbles in ice show this di- 

 rection. The bubbles collect in widely distant 

 layers, marking the successive stages of freezing ; 

 between the layers there is either a clear intervening 

 space, or those perpendicular rows of bubbles 

 already noticed. Accordingly the ice freezes 

 parallel with the former and at right angles with 

 the direction of the latter bubbles." 

 Beneath the snowandtheicewe all direct our hopes 



for the young year. There lie buried the germs 

 which shall make our fields green, feed our cattle, 

 make our gardens gay, replenish our granaries, fill 

 our tables, store our cellars, and indeed supply all 

 the substantial materials for our daily wants. It 

 cannot cause much surprise therefore that, at this 

 season of the year, all should feel an interest, though 

 but few express it, of what lies hidden " under the 

 snow." 



THE BELTED KINGEISHEB. 



{Ceryle Alcyon.) 



LAKE, river, streamlet, and sea-side, are alike 

 enlivened in the Ear North-West by the 

 presence of Kingfishers. Wherever fish are to be 

 caught, there, attired in a quiet livery of pale-blue, 

 one is certain to meet with a goodly sprinkling of 

 these most greedy fish-eaters. In size, and strength 

 of beak, it far outstrips the brilliant gem-like little 

 bird, the Kingfisher of our own pleasant streams. 

 Even staid old Romans looked upon Kingfishers 

 with a superstitious love. Halcj-on, the Greek name 

 of the Kingfisher, has given rise to the everyday 

 saying " Halcyon-days." It was believed, the bird 

 hatched its young in a nest that floated on the 

 surface of the water ; and, being specially under the 

 protection of the gods, could at will hush the 

 roughest sea, during the period of incubation : 

 hence the usually calm days near the summer solstice 

 (corresponding to our latter half of May and first 

 part of June) were called by sailors "Halcyon- 

 days." 



The dead body of the bird, kept as a relic, 

 enabled its possessor to shut up a thunder-storm or 

 quell a household riot. In Tartary, the feathers of 

 the Kingfisher, worn as an amulet, are supposed to 

 ensure the wearer the love of any lady he sets his 

 mind on. Had the skin of this little bird so recently 

 sought after to adoni the hats and bonnets of the fair 

 a like magic power ? 



There are many who believe even now that the 

 body of a Kingfisher, suspended by a thread, will 

 invariably turn its breast to the North. The 

 savages in North- Western America have wonderful 

 myths relative to the Belted Kingfisher, and use its 

 crest, attached to bows, as a charm to make the 

 arrow go true to its mark. 



It is always a pity to destroy poetic fancies, and 

 demolish in five minutes the myths — very pretty, if 

 only true— that have existed for centuries. The 

 Belted Kingfisher never has a nest, neither has its 

 British relative, but digs an ugly hole into a mud- 

 bank, or, taking forcible possession of one already 

 excavated, lays its eggs on the bare earth at the end 

 of the burrow. I have dug out a great many nests 

 from the sand-banks near the Columbia river, and 

 can safely say, the only impression not likely to be 

 readily forgotten is entirely nasal — a potent, pun- 



