344 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. X. 



America are very remarkable. On the 15th of 

 April Mr. Hood records that M the first shower of 

 rain fell we had seen for six months, and on the 

 17th the thermometer rose to 77° in the shade." 

 He also observes that " on the 10th or 12th April 

 the return of the swans, geese, and ducks, gave 

 certain indications of the advance of spring." 



The warm weather, by the sudden melting of the 

 snow and ice, deluged the face of the country, and 

 gave rise to a remark of Mr. Hood, the truth of 

 which has been proved by many well-attested facts. 

 He says, " the noise made by the frogs, which this 

 inundation produced, is almost incredible. There 

 is strong reason to believe that they outlive the 

 severity of winter. They have often been found 

 frozen, and revived by warmth ; nor is it possible 

 that the multitude which incessantly filled our ears 

 with its discordant notes, could have been matured 

 in two or three days." Strong doubts had long- 

 before this been entertained of the correctness of 

 the fact here stated, but experiments made by 

 competent persons proved that not only frogs, but 

 leeches, snails, grubs, fishes, and other animals, 

 could be frozen by artificial cold, and revived. It 

 was further ascertained that frogs would revive if 

 the heart even was frozen, but that if the brain was 

 congealed, life became so irrecoverably extinct that 

 not only could no degree of warmth produce 

 symptoms of recovery, but the animal was rendered 



