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motion to the water than that acquired by its own gravity, this 

 plan would have no doubt succeeded admirably ; but the rajjid 

 motion of the vessel caused such a disturbance in the water, 

 and consequent rolling about of the gravel, as to bruise and 

 kill most of those Ova buried in it, and to injure a large pio- 

 portion of those resting upon it. An additional evil was, that 

 the Ova so killed could not be removed without disturbing 

 those on the surface ; they gradually decomposed, and by 

 tainting the water no doubt accelerated the death of the 

 hatched fish, if not of the Ova. 



To remedy all this Mr. Eamsbottom proposes to do away 

 with the undercurrent altogether, to have only one layer of 

 gravel, and to keep this layer fixed in its place by the very 

 ingenious and simple contrivance of covering the*^ bottom of 

 the tray with wire loops between and amongst which the 

 gi-avel rests securely packed. This wire should be of pure tin. 



The arrangements for cooling the water were quite inefficient 

 and caused great waste of ice. The water was led immediately 

 from the deck tank bj an iron pipe wrapped round with flannel 

 into and through the ice-house and into the iron tank, the top 

 of which protruded through the bottom of the ice-house. The 

 water from the deck tank being comparatively warm soon 

 melted the ice in the neighborhood of the conducting pipe, 

 after which its temperature could not be materially altered in 

 its passage through the ice-house. There was then a stream 

 of comparatively warm water pouring into the iron tank at 

 the bottom of the ice-house. The ice resting on this iron 

 tank rapidly melted, letting down more ice to be melted as it 

 came into contact with the tank till all above it was gone. 

 That this action took place was fully proved, for Mr. 

 Eamsbottom, on first entering the ice-house, found a vacant 

 space extending from the top of the iron tank to the roof 

 with the conducting pipe clear of ice. 



This ought to have been foreseen and guarded against. No 

 portion of the upper tank should be above the deck, as this 

 must tend to increase the temperature of the water greatly. 

 In the " Beautiful Star" it was impossible to avoid this as 

 sufficient fall could not otherwise be obtained, but this is only 

 an additional proof of her total unfitness. The pipe leading 

 from the upper tank should be of small bore, several feet long 

 and covered with some material, such as woollen cloth, which 

 in the tropics could be constantly wet and from time to time 

 powdered with some cheap deliquie scent salt, the effect of 

 which would be to reduce the temperature of the water 

 materially before it en.tered the ice-house. The pipe upon 

 entering the ice-house should first pass two or three times 

 round the top of it on the principle of a worm in a still, and 

 lastly once round the bottom, and thence directly, without the 

 intervention of any tank, to the apparatus. I believe the 

 upper tank might also be cheaply kept at a low temperature 

 by the use of a moderate supply of deliquiescent salt, even 

 damping and the consequent evaporation would lower the 

 temperature of the water a degree or two. 



