424 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



put in barrels, and brought to the ship, where a cupful 

 being melted from each barrel, a nitrate of silver test 

 was applied, and the barrel accepted or rejected as the 

 case might be. Regularly each morning was this ar- 

 rangement carried out, some five or six barrels accu- 

 mulating on the quarter-deck where the snow stood 

 and thawed to some extent. From these barrels our 

 supply was taken for melting in the galley for our uses. 

 This morning an unusual degree of saltness in the new 

 supply seemed to threaten our having got down to a 

 line of salt deposit ; and in the course of Dr. Ambler's 

 tests he dipped a cup of water from one of the snow 

 barrels, which had some days ago passed inspection, 

 and he found it too salt for use, although a cupful 

 of snow in that barrel being melted was found quite 

 pure. This curious result is worthy of notice. The 

 barrelful of snow standing in the sun had become soft 

 and honey-combed, and the small amount of salt had 

 dropped through wdth the drops of water and remained, 

 of course, with them, leaving the snow so much purer. 

 Of course it is impossible to say that the entire contents 

 of a barrel are of the same character as the specimen 

 cupful, some pure and some impure getting scraped up 

 together ; for it is plain that if the barrelful were no 

 different from the cupful, the melting of one would 

 give the same purity of water as the other. It is to be 

 remembered, however, that the Salter the water orig- 

 inally, the lower the freezing point, and, consequently, 

 the melting point, hence the Salter ice commences to 

 melt first and deposits its salt, wdiich, falling into the 

 liquid, makes a concentrated solution which may be 

 unfit to drink, though the remaining snow will yield a 

 potable material. Our method of examination and test 

 is the only practicable one. Properly each barrelful 



