UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 87 



spears with pointed ends, laid very closely toge- 

 ther and mostly darting from the places where 

 the ice had touched either the bulb or the side 

 of the glass vessel. 



" Yes," said my uncle, " that is what I wished 

 you to observe ; when ice begins to form on 

 the surface of water, several of those spear- 

 shaped spicula shoot from the edge of whatever 

 contains the water, or from any solid body which 

 happens to be in the water, a bit of wood or 

 even a straw." 



I interrupted my uncle to beg he would ex- 

 plain the word spicula I know he is never dis- 

 pleased at being interrupted by a question of 

 that sort. 



He told me that spiculum is a Latin word, 

 and means a dart or an arrow, or sometimes the 

 sting of a bee, spicula is the plural, and is 

 commonly used in English to express any small 

 pointed bodies. 



" To return to the ice," said he : " that first 

 set of spicula serve as bases for a new set, and 

 these again for others; each single spiculum 

 diverges or spreads from its own base at an angle 

 of nearly 60, and therefore they all cross each 

 other in an infinite variety of directions, and this 

 process continues till one even sheet of ice is 

 formed." 1 asked my uncle, if the reason why 

 the ice occupies more space than the water was, 

 that those spicula or crystals, from their shape, 



I 2 



