1815,] Wernerian Society. 143 
He began with some notices as to the characteristics of the at- 
mosphere and the land in West Greenland and Spitzbergen. The 
atmosphere is remarkable for darkness of colour and density, for 
the production of highly crystallized snow, and for almost instanta- 
neous changes from perfect calm to impetuous storm, The land is 
remarkable for abrupt precipices, rising directly from the ocean to 
a great height: the dark-coloured rocks contrasted with the snow 
of the purest whiteness with which they are capped, produce a very 
striking effect. Here the white lear is the lord of the creation: 
seals and all other animals flee his presence. He is yearly attracted 
over the ice to the fishing ground, by the carcases of whales, the 
smell of which he seems to perceive at a wonderful distance. 
As to the ice, Mr. Scoresby remarked that Davis Straits is noted 
for enormous ice-lergs or ice-islands, and that Greenland is more 
remarkable for ice-fields. Some of these ice-fields are of vast ex- 
tent, perhaps 100 miles long and 50 broad; the surface being 
raised from 4 to 6 feet above the water, and the base sunk near 20 
feet below the water. The ice-bergs of Baffins Bay are sometimes 
nearly two miles long and perhaps 100 feet high, while their base 
must reach 450 feet below the surface of the water. Some ice- 
bergs are formed on the land; but the most huge are, in Mr. 
Scoresby’s opinion, produced in the deep sheltered bays of the sea, 
and formed partly of sea water and partly of snow and sleet, yearly 
accumulated perhaps for successive ages. 
Mr. Scoresby mentioned, that he never could, by experiments 
made in Greenland, obtain from sea water, ice that was either com- 
pact, transparent, or which yielded a fresh solution. Yet fresh- 
water ice is common, and the whale-fishing ships frequently water 
at some pool on the surface of an ice-berg. Salt-water ice is soft, 
porous, white; it is lighter than the other, its specific gravity being 
about 0°873, while that of fresh-water ice is 0-937. This last has 
a black appearance while floating in the sea, and is transparent, 
with a green hue, when held in the air. Its edges are sharp like 
glass. With pure pieces of this kind of ice Mr. Scoresby sometimes 
amused himself in forming lenses, with which he was able to fire 
pepowder, light the sailors’ pipes, burn wood, and even melt 
ead. 
Ice is generated in the Northern Ocean entirely independent of 
the vicinity of land, It is formed even in rough seas during intense 
cold; first producing what is called by the sailors sludge, and then 
flat pieces of a rounded shape, and turned up at the edges, which 
haye received the whimsical name of pancakes. In the sheltered 
openings which occasionally occur in the great fields of ice, Lay-ice 
is often rapidly formed : it will bear a man’s weight in 48 hours, 
and in a month is fully a foot thick.. Suppose a large opening to 
be thus frozen over, and cemented on every side to the older ice, a 
great basin or hollow is produced: this becomes a receptacle for 
snow: next summer the snow is melted, and during the following 
winter the water is converted into a solid layer of fresh-water ice, 
