96 ORNITHOLOGY IN SOUTH LEICESTERSHIRE, 
Pochard, (Fuligula ferina,) occasionally seen and killed. ~ 
Golden Hye, (Fuligula clangula, ) occasionally seen and shot. 
Quail, (Coturnix communis, ) often seen. 
Wild Goose, probably the Bean Goose, (Anser segetum,) occasionally 
seen, but no specimen has been obtained so as to verify the species. 
T will also add, though not belonging to Leicestershire, the appear- 
ance of five Avocets, (Recurvirostra avocetta,) from the note book of my 
friend Mr. Matthews. They were seen on the Trent, near Newark, in 
1860. 
CRYSTALLISATION OF WATER. 
By W. B. Guove, B.A. 
The frontispiece of Professor Tyndall’s ‘ Light” is an engraving from 
a photograph of what he calls “ a surprising case of crystallisation.” 
The following is the account given of it by Professor 8. H. Lockett, of 
Louisiana State University. ‘In my drawing room I kept a wash-basin 
in which to rinse out the colour from my water-colour brushes. This 
colour gradually formed a uniform sediment of an indefinite tint over the 
bottom of the basin. On the night of the 26th of December last, (1873,) 
which was an unusually cold one for this climate, the water in the basin 
froze. On the melting of the ice the next day, the beautiful figure you 
see on the photographs was left in the sediment. I carefully poured the 
water from the basin, let the sediment dry, and thus perfectly preserved 
the figure.” 
During the severe weather of last December a quantity of rain- 
water was left in a jug in my room, and the impurities of the water were 
deposited in a grayish sediment on the bottom. One night the water 
froze, not only at the top, but also round the sides and bottom where 
it was in contact with the jug. The ice-crystals on the curved bottom, as 
they grew, removed the thin layer of sediment from the smooth surface. 
Consequently, when the ice was melted and the water poured out, a 
beautiful design was seen, in white on a black ground, consisting chiefly 
of gracefully-curved slender plumes. I made a sketch [Plate II1.] of 
one of the most exquisite of these; it is slightly enlarged, but is other- 
wise as faithful a copy as I could produce. It is remarkable how similar 
it is in many points to one of the plumes in Professor Tyndall’s 
engraving. The repetition of the same general plan in the details of 
successive parts is especially a feature in which the two agree, as also the 
backward prolongation of many of the spicules. 
The great interest of these forms lies inthe beautiful curves of which 
they consist. With the idea of a crystal we usually associate that of 
straight lines and plane surfaces, and, although instances to the contrary 
are not uncommon, it is but seldom we meet with curves so graceful as 
those here depicted. They arise from the varying play of the molecular 
forces combined with the adhesion between the molecules and the surface 
on which they are deposited. They form one of the links connecting the 
forms of inorganic with those of organic nature, and recall tous Professor 
Tyndall’s words:—‘‘ Who is the builder in the case of a crystal (of the 
lumes in our frontispiece, for example?) Hither a detached architect 
Biss the business, or these wonderful structures are self-erected, in virtue 
of their inherent forces. In building a crystal nature makes her first 
real effort as an architect. Here we have the first gropings of the 
so-called vital force ; but the most wonderful manifestations of this force, 
though depending upon processes of higher complexity, are, I hold, of 
the same quality as those concerned in the growth of a crystal.” 
