OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 269 



Four liundred and sixty-eiglitli meeting. 



August 9, 1859. — Stated Meeting. 



The President in the chair. 



The Corresponding Secretary read letters of acceptance 

 from the Hon. John H. Clifford and the -Hon. Emory Wash- 

 burn, who were elected Fellows at the preceding meeting. 

 Also letters relative to the exchanges of the Academy. 



Dr. C. T. Jackson communicated the results of the exami- 

 nation, made by Mr. John H. Blake and himself, of the Fro- 

 zen Well in Brandon, Vermont ; which was examined by 

 them on the 10th and 11th of June last, in behalf of the 

 Boston Society of Natural History. 



This well is situated about half a mile west of the Brandon Hotel, 

 and is on the estate of Abraham Trombley. It was dug in the month 

 of November, 1858. 



After sinking through loam and sandy sub-soil twenty feet, a bed 

 of frozen gravel, with lumps of ice, was met with, and the whole bed 

 was frozen to the thickness of about fifteen feet. The gravel con- 

 sisted of large and small pebbles, imbedded in mud, which was all 

 froi^en. Some lumps of ice, of the size of twelve-pound cannon-balls, 

 were taken out. Below this frozen deposit, sand was struck at the 

 depth of thirty-five feet from the surface, and three springs of water 

 came in from below, and still supply water. 



The well is regularly walled with stones, and has a cover of mar- 

 ble, with a circular hole eighteen inches in diameter cut through it. 

 Over the well there is a curb with a windlass, covered with a roof 

 to keep the rain from the rope ; this covering prevents any direct 

 radiation of heat from the surface of the water in the well. At the 

 bottom of the well, for five feet above the water, a crust of solid ice 

 exists, attached to the walls of the well. In the winter and early sum- 

 mer the surface of the water freezes over, even as late as the month 

 of June. On measuring the depth of the well, it was found to be 

 35.4 feet deep, and there were 2.4 feet of water in it. The tempera- 

 ture of the water on the 10th and 11th of June last was ^° Cen- 

 tigrade, or 33° F., while there was a thick crust of solid ice extend- 

 ing to the height of five feet above the water, and closely attached to 



