115 



THE FORMS OF WATER 



the surface of the glacier. It is not easy to 

 see how the fact of the solar heat being first 

 absorbed by water, and then conveyed by it 

 10 the bottom of the shaft, should make the 

 melting of the bottom more rapid than that 

 of the ice which receives the direct impact 

 of the solar rays. The surface of the glacier 

 must sink at least as rapidly as the bottom of 

 the pit, so that the circulation, though actu- 

 ally existing, cannot produce the cited as- 

 cribed to it. 



40. CONSEQUENCES FLOWING FROM THE 

 FOREGOING PROPERTIES OF WATER. 

 CORRECTION OF ERRORS. 



315. I was not much above your age when 

 the pioperly of water ceasing to contract by 

 cold at a temperature of 39" Fahr. was made 

 known to me, and 1 still remember the im- 

 pression it made upon me. For I was asked 

 to consider what would occur in case this 

 solitary exception to an otherwise universal 

 law ceased to exist. 



316. I was asked to reflect upon the con- 

 dition of a lake stored with fish and offering 

 its surface to very cold air. It was made 

 clear to me that the water on being first 

 chilled would shrink in volume and become 

 heavie/, that it would theiefore sink and 

 have its; p'ate supplied by the warmer and 

 lighter wati-r fiom the deeper portions of the 

 lake. 



317. It was pointed out to mi; that without 

 the law referred to this process of circulation 

 would go on until th^ whole watir of the 

 lake had been lowered to the free/ing tem- 

 per ami e. Congelation would then begin, 

 and would continue as long as any waler re- 

 mained to be solidified. One consequence of 

 this would be to destroy every living thing 

 contained in the lake. Other calamities 

 weie added, all of which weie said to be 

 prevented by the perfectly exceptional ar- 

 rangement, that after a certain time the colder 

 water becomes the lighter, floats on the sur- 

 face of the lake, is there congealed, thus 

 throwing a protecting roof over the life 

 below. 



318. Count Rumford, one of the most solid 

 of scientific men, writes in the following strain 

 about this question : '' It does not appear to 

 me that there is anything which human 

 sagacity can fathom, within the wide-extend- 

 ed bounds of the visible creation, which 

 affoidsa more striking or more palpable 

 proof of the wisdom of the Creator, and of 

 the special care He has taken, in the general 

 arrangement of the uuiveise, to preserve ani- 

 mal M'e, than this wonderful contrivance. 



31S). " Let me beg the attention of my 

 leaders while 1 endeavor to investigate this 

 imobt interesting subject ; and let me at the 

 :*umc time bespeak his candor and indul- 

 gence. I feel the danger to which a mortal 

 exptMses himself who has the temerity to ex- 

 plain the designs of Infinite Wisdom. The 

 enterprise is adventuious, but it surely can- 

 not be improper. 



320. "Had not Providence interfered on 

 iiua occasion in a manner which may well 



be considered as m^'acul<ms t all the fresh 

 water within the polar circle must, inevitably 

 have been frozen to a veiy great depth iu 

 winter, and every plant ami tree destroyed." 



321. Through many pages of his book 

 Count Rumford continues in \\\\ strain to 

 expound the ways and intentions of the Al- 

 mighty, and he does cot hesitate to apply 

 very harsh words to those who cannot share 

 his notions. He calls them hardened and de- 

 graded. \Ve aie here .warned :>f the fact, 

 which is too often forgotten, that tlie pleas- 

 ure or comfort of a belief, or the warmth or 

 exaltation of feeling which it produces, is no 

 guarantee of its truth. For the whole of 

 Count Rumford's delight and enthusiasm in 

 connection with this subjact, and the wholo 

 of his ire against those who did not share his 

 opinions, were founded upon an erroneous 

 notion. 



322. Water is not a solitary exception to 

 an otherwise general law. There are other 

 molecules than those of this lieniid which re- 

 quire more room in the soliel c-ijstalline con- 

 dition than in the adjacent molten condition. 

 Iron is a case in point. Solid iron floats 

 upon molten iron exactly as ice floats upon 

 water. Bismuth is a still more impressive 

 case, and we could shiver a bomb as cer- 

 tainly by the solidification of bismuth as by 

 that of water. There is no fish to be taken 

 care of here, still the " contrivance" is the 

 same. 



323. I am reluctant to mention (hem iu 

 the same biealh with Count liumioid, but I 

 am told that in our own day theie are people 

 who profess to find the comforts of a religion 

 in a superstition lower than any that has 

 hitherto degraded the civilized human mind. 

 So that the happiness of a faith and the truth 

 of a failh are two totally different things. 



324. Life and the conditions of life are in 

 necessary haimony. This is a truism, for 

 without the suitable conditions life could not 

 exist. But both life and its conditions set 

 forth the operations of inscrutable Power. 

 We know not its origin ; we know not its 

 end. And the presumption, if not the eleg- 

 radation, rests with those who place upon 

 the throne of the universe a magnified image 

 of themselves, and make its doings a mere 

 colossal imitation of their own. 



47. THE MOLECULAR MKC/TANISM OF 

 WATER-CONGELATION. 



82.1. But let us return to our science. 

 How are we to picture this act of expansion 

 on the part of freezing water ? By what oper- 

 ation do the molecules demand wilh such 

 irresistible emphasis more room in the solirl 

 than in the adjacent liquid condition ? In all 

 cases of this kiud we must derive our con. 

 ceptions from the world of the. senses, and 

 transfer them afterward to a world transcend- 

 ing the range of the senses. 



32(>. You have not forgotten our conver- 

 sation regarding " atomic poles" (^ 10), and 

 how the notion of polar force came to be ap- 

 plied to crystals. With this fiesh in^ your 

 memory, you will have no great 



