tfie Appearance of Man on the Earth. 61 



shoals of floating ice. The greatest thickness of the ice was 

 found to be half a foot. Of course, a few warm days of spring 

 were sufficient to remove all traces of the ice. 



The sea presents relations very analogous to those of lakes ; 

 But there is this diflPerence, that the water of the former, 

 owing to its salt condition, takes much longer time to freeze 

 than that of the latter. 



I have stated before, that water expands in the act of freez- 

 ing, and that this power is irresistible. It follows from this, 

 that ice must be lighter than water ; for it is seen to swim on 

 the latter. 



Here we have again a proof of Divine wisdom. What would 

 be the consequence if the ice had been heavier than water \ 

 That substance would sink to the bottom as soon as it is 

 formed, a second layer would thus be deposited, and so on, 

 until the whole bed of the Rhine was filled with ice. Ah 

 impenetrable and immoveable ice-wall would thus begin to 

 overtop the water, cause the river to overflow, and to depo- 

 sit fresh masses of ice. The ice-wall would then rise above 

 the banks, occasioning the most fearful inundations, by which 

 the whole country would be converted into one scene of desor 

 lation and misery. 



If it had pleased the' Almighty to ordain that ice should be 

 heavier than water, one single severe winter would be suffi- 

 cient to destroy all our cities, and to lay waste all the adjacent 

 districts of the Rhine. The beautiful valley, which extends 

 along the whole course of that river, from Switzerland down 

 to Holland, would present one entire wilderness. 



But do not imagine that ice has been made lighter than 

 water, merely in order to prevent ruin and desolation ! Nature 

 intended thereby to confer on us the most signal and everlasting 

 benefits. The whole coast extending from Holland to Russia 

 is deficient in rocks. In that whole direction, not one single 

 rock is to be seen. In order to remedy this evil. Nature fell 

 upon the following plan : At an early period of our earth, she 

 loaded large ice islands with the rocks of Sweden. This was 

 probably the same period when the mammoths and elephants 

 were buried in the ice at the mouths of the river Lena. The 

 ice islands landed on the coast of the Baltic, then still under 



