654 THE JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY. 



approach the hour-glass form. The thinner, and usually smaller, 

 table was naturally above, and the thicker and larger below, for 

 the obvious reason that the greater mass of the ice was sub- 

 merged. The breaking away of segments of these tables and 

 various other inequalities of reduction often resulted in the tilt- 

 ing of the mass and the establishment of a new zone of maximum 

 melting, leading on to further inequalities. While other agencies 

 participated in forming the odd shapes assumed by the larger 

 masses of ice, they appear to have been chiefly due to the superior 

 rate of melting at the water's edge. It was only when the pro- 

 cess of dissolution had reached an advanced stage that the more 

 unique and fantastic forms were usually assumed. These were 

 naturally most prevalent among the scattered masses on the 

 border that were more freely bathed by the warmer surface 

 water of the open sea. 



The odd forms usually have, as a common feature, a sub- 

 merged, massive base from which irregularly eroded portions stand 

 forth. This base is the remnant of the lower table already men- 

 tioned, which retains much of its massiveness after the air and 

 surface water and direct sunlight have wasted the upper part. To 

 these massive bases the floes often owe their preservation long 

 after their own slenderness and ill-balanced proportions would 

 have wrought their destruction. Fragile columns, with or with- 

 out entablatures, slender pinnacles, and delicate forms of various 

 types, stand forth from these submerged bases, giving, at a little 

 distance, an impression of such fragility as to lead one to wonder 

 how they retained their integrity, until a near approach revealed 

 the substantial base. A great variety of imitative forms are 

 observable. Often the exserted portions resemble the limbs of 

 an inverted animal. Not uncommonly the more massive projec- 

 tions from the submerged base stand forth like the prows and 

 poops of oriental ships. Resemblances to mythological creatures, 

 to architectural structures, to sea birds, to plants, and likenesses 

 of all sorts might be imagined without much exercise of the 

 fancy. These odd forms, however, were quite subordinate in 

 size and number to the simpler thick pans merely worn more or 



