“944 Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. -[Aua. 
In this way, Mr. Scoresby thinks, the most compact field-ice may 
be generated in a few years. Other fields are formed of boards of 
~ ‘packed ice cemented by frost. Ice-fields have an invariable ten- 
dency to drift to the south-westward, amid various or contrary. 
- winds. They appear in June in the fishing latitudes, and many 
~are yearly broken up by the agitation of the waves when they ad- 
~ vance to the open ocean. When two fields come in contact, the 
- concussion is tremendous. 
~ Mr. Scoresby gave a description of the present situation or boun- 
~ daries of the circumpolar ice, both in close and in open seasons,— 
- which it is impossible to abridge. Such is the outline, that when 
’ the ice touches the south point of Spitzbergen, a barrier is formed 
against access to the open sea farther north, where whales are to 
be found. If this barrier consist only of packed ice, and be not ce- 
mented into fields, the ships are forced through it, with great dif- 
ficulty no doubt, and not without peril. In June this barrier 
divides in the middle, and when the vessels return from the fishing 
it frequently happens that no vestige of it is to be seen. ‘The larg- 
est fields of ice are always moving and changing place, generally 
drifting to the south-west, although, on account of their vast ex- 
tent, it is difficult to estimate the amount of the change. A ship 
beset in a field was carried, with a semicircular sweep, between fif- 
teen and twenty leagues in fifty hours. ‘Two ships embayed in 
acked ice, within a few furlongs of each other, were separated to 
the distance of some leagues in the course of two days, and yet the 
continuity of the pack of ice appeared to the eye to have remained 
unbroken. 
The effects of the ice on the atmosphere are very striking. A 
strong gale blowing against one side of a large field, is so moderated 
in its passage over the ice, that it is scarcely felt on the other side. 
Moist and temperate gales from the southward, on reaching the 
fields, immediately discharge their superfluous moisture in the form 
of snow. ‘The ice-blink is a curious phenomenon. The rays of 
light which fall on the ice are reflected, while those which fall on 
‘the water are in a great measure absorbed. A luminous belt ap- 
pears in the horizon, containing a beautiful map of the ice, some- 
times so perfect that a practised eye can determine whether field 
‘tce or packed ice be represented. 
~ Jn the last part of bis paper Mr. Scroresby treated of the practi- 
‘eability of reaching the North Pole, by setting off from the north of 
Spitzbergen, and travelling over the ice. That this may not be 
met with a smile of contempt, we may mention that bis reasonings, 
and the statements founded on his own experience, went a great 
‘way in removing the objections of some of the most distinguished 
Scottish philosophers. Mr. Scroresby has been several times be- 
“yond 80° N. lat. Indeed, he on one occasion made a nearer ap- 
proach to the polar point than any other scientific observer. Cap- 
tata “Phipps (Lord Mulgrave) in 1773 reached’ 80° 27’; but in 
“1806 Mr:’Scoresby (then ‘acting as chief ‘mate to his’ father,’ well 
