VOL. LXXXIII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. JQS 



along the borders or ridges. About 5 in the morning, they begin to remove the 

 ice from the pans ; which is done by striking an iron hook into the centre of it, 

 and by that means breaking it into several pieces. If the pans have been many 

 days without smearing, and it happens that the whole of the water is frozen, it 

 is almost impossible to extract the ice without breaking the pan. The number 

 of pans exposed at one time, is computed at about 100,000, and there are em- 

 ployed, in filling them with water in the evenings, and taking out the ice in the 

 mornings, about 300, men, women, and children ; the water is taken from a 

 well contiguous to the spot. New vessels, being most porous, answer best. 



It is necessary that the straw be dry : when it becomes wet, as it frequently 

 does by accident, it is removed, and replaced. I have observed water which had 

 been boiled, freeze in a china plate ; yet having frequently placed a china plate, 

 with well-water, among the unglazed pans on the straw beds, I found that when 

 the latter had a considerable thickness of ice on them, the china plate had none. 

 I have also wetted the straw of some of the plats, and always found it prevented 

 the formation of ice. The air is generally very still when much ice is formed ; a 

 gentle air usually prevails from the south-westward about day-light. I had a 

 thermometer among the ice pans, during the season of making ice, with its bulb 

 placed on the straw, and another hung on a pole 5^ feet above the ground ; and 

 commonly observed, that when ice was formed, and the thermometer on the 

 straw was from 37 to 42°, that on the pole would stand about 4 degrees higher ; 

 but if there was any wind, so as to prevent freezing, both the thermometers 

 would agree. I shall offer no opinion respecting the causes of ice being formed 

 when the thermometer is so many degrees above the freezing point ; but hope 

 the subject will be elucidated by some more capable person. 



JX. Account of Two Instances of Uncommon Formation, in the Viscera of the 

 Human Body. By Mr. John Abernethy, Assistant Surgeon to St. Bar- 

 tholomeivs Hospital, p. 59. 



I take the liberty, says Mr. A., of presenting to the r. s., the relation of 2 

 cases of uncommon formation of the human body. When animal existence is 

 supported by any other than the usual admirably contrived means, it cannot fail 

 to excite the attention of the philosopher, since it shows to him the powers and 

 resources of nature. The peculiarities of the first case consist in an uncommon 

 transposition of the heart, and distribution of the blood vessels ; with a very 

 strange, and I believe singular formation of the liver. The body which contained 

 these deviations from the usual structure was brought to me for dissection ; with 

 its history while alive, I am therefore unacquainted. The subject was a female 

 infant, which measured 2 feet in length ; the umbilicus was firmly cicatrized, 

 and the umbilical vein closed; from these circumstances I conclude that it was 



