292 Dana on Electrical Battery. 
any fissure, and this hydraulic and hydrostatic effort would force 
the air out at any orifice, and thus blow the water up with it. 
This was probably the cause of the agitation of the water, and 
of the bubbling of air, and of the throwing up of the water at in- 
tervals observed by the boys on the 3dof March. 
The effect of the water covering the ground, would be to 
weaken its cohesion derived from frost, and as there were pro- 
bably hundreds of tons of pressure, the vaulted ground, when 
sufficiently weakened, gave way with a loud explosion anda 
violent concussion, as heard by Mr. Sheldon’s family, a few 
hours after the fact observed by the boys. The parts of the 
arch now fallen in, (so to speak) necessarily either overlap- 
ped, or rose in ridges, piece being pressed against piece, as de- 
scribed and figured by Mr. Hitchcock. 
We are indebted to this gentlemen for his delineation of this 
‘The freezing of water, and its attendant expansion, are pro- 
ductive of multiplied and very diversified phenomena upon our 
globe, whether we contemplate them in the delicate spicule of 
it, in the six-rayed stars of snow, or in the stupendous 
glaciers. of the Alps, and the awful icebergs of Greenland. 
el ay ee 
Cambridge, January 25, 1819. 
Proressor Sripman. 
Dear Sir, 
IF the following observations are worthy of a place in your 
valuable Journal, please to insert them, and oblige- yours, with 
esteem. J. F. Dana. 
ArT. XIV. On a New Form of the Electrical Battery, by JF. 
Dana, M. D. Chemical Assistant in Harvard University, and 
Lecturer on Chemistry and Pharmacy in Dartmouth College. 
Tur Electrical Battery in its common form is an unmanage 
able and inconvenient apparatus. When the coated surface i 
