454 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Dec. 



suggestions bearing upon the modes of transport, I may be allowed 

 to state a few of the diflficulties we have had to contend against. 

 And let it be borne in mind that there are many dangers on board 

 ship, such as we have not upon land. These difficulties may be 

 gathered from the following extract from the letter of Mr. Joul. 

 He says, " It is impossible to account for the difference, as it 

 may arise froQi so many causes. Some of the ova was not in the 

 best condition ; it may be the moss, or the water it was washed 

 with, or the water it was drenched with, or foul air in the ridge, 

 or some of the ova got frozen before the Norfolk left the docks 

 during the severe frost." To these probable causes I would add, 

 the fish may have been partly or wholly diseased, or the impurities 

 of the ice, or insect matter as it escaped through the melting of 

 the ice, but more particularly, I should say, the bilge-water in the 

 ship. In this opinion I am partly borne out by Dr. Officer, who, 

 in a letter to Mr. Joul, dated 22nd of April, 1864, says—" Mr. 

 Kamsbottom thinks that the boxes nearest the bottom were the 

 least healthy." These causes, we may infer, are very serious draw- 

 backs, and, in my opinion, the principal cause of destruction. 

 Previous to the ice-house being commenced with, I proposed a 

 plan of drainage to prevent the possibility of any bilge-water enter- 

 ing the ice-house, but could not have it carried out. Mr. Joul 

 saw the necessity for such an arrangement, but the owners of the 

 Norfolk refused permission, alleging that it would materially 

 interfere with the stowing of the cargo. Mr. Joul gave way, 

 although I could come to no such conclusion. The plan I 

 proposed would have provided a thorough system of drainage, 

 without being exposed to the evils attendant upon opening 

 a communication with the ship's timbers. This could have 

 been done by draining off the ice-water into two tanks, one on 

 each side of the ice-house; having attached to each an ordi- 

 nary pump, communicating with the upper deck. Had such an 

 arrangement been carried out, a two-fold object would have been 

 achieved, viz., there would have been no open channel, by which 

 the bilge-water could have entered the ice-house ; and the per- 

 son in charge would have been enabled to pump up the ice-water 

 and measure it off, showing correctly how much ice was being 

 melted per diem. I should here observe, that as the owners of 

 the Norfolk gave the space taken up by the ice-house gratis, 

 and that, as it was very difficult to get a suitable ship, Mr. Joul 

 had no other choice but to agree to the plan we worked out. The 



