87 



above is several degrees below zero. Several other weUs in the village and 

 vicinity of Owego are known to freeze, but their depth I do not know. 



In October, 1855, I received a letter from Mr. Wm. B. Shedd, of Maiden, 

 Middlesex Co., Mass., who for four years had been making observations upon 

 the temperature of caves, wells, springs, &;c. He professed to have discovered 

 the causes of frozen wells and ice caves, and attributed the various phenomena 

 to one of four "combinations of circumstances," none of which he would 

 reveal. He said that he intended to construct a cave which would freeze, in 

 order to test his theory. He stated that he had formed an opinion respecting 

 the Owego wells, which he would communicate to me the following spring, 

 when he had made his experiment. I have not however heard from him. 



Mr. Shedd communicated to me the fact of the existence of a very cold 

 spring in Otis, Berkshire Co., Mass. It is situated near the Farmington river, 

 on the eastern side. Observations were made in August, 1853, and the results 

 were as follows : — thermometer in shade 94° Fah. ; near the spring 70° ; water 

 of the spring 36"; in the river, close by the spring, 61°. 



The well near Hartford, to which you allude, is not a freezing well ; it is sim- 

 ply a cold well, and does not deserve investigation as much as others which 

 have been mentioned. 



I received a letter from the owner of the Brandon well last winter. 



I confess myself to be entirely at a loss respecting the cause of this phenom- 

 enon. In Owego the wells are sunk in coarse gravel, and the waters are im- 

 pregnated with lime. In these two points they resemble the Brandon well. 

 The bed of the Otis spring is gravel. We find, I think, also hills in the vicinity 

 of these freezing wells. 



I understand that it has been suggested that possibly natural freezing mix- 

 tures may give rise to these phenomena. May we not also inquire if high 

 ridges and hills, presenting so much surface to action of the cold, do not be- 

 come colder at a given depth than a portion of the general crust of the earth, 

 and to so great an extent that, when they are composed of materials that pro- 

 mote a rapid evaporation, such a reduction of temperature may result as we 

 sometimes obsei-ve ? 



In the preceding part of this letter I have given you some abstracts, as it 

 would take too much time to transcribe all the matter bearing upon this subject. 



Perhaps I may have the pleasure of seeing you at Springfield next month, 

 when the A. A. S. A. S. meets, when we can compare notes. 



I remain, 



Very truly yours, 

 '^ JOHN BEOCKLESBY. 



Professor Wyman gave an account of some experiments recently 

 made on the formation of minute living organisms in solutions of 

 organic matter which had been boiled and exposed, in hermetically- 

 sealed vessels, to air which had passed through iron tubes heated to 

 redness. Thirty-seven experiments were tried, and of these thirty- 

 three were made at the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere, and all 

 but five supplied with air through heated tubes. The solutions were 

 boiled from fifteen minutes to two hours before being sealed, and 

 Infusoria appeared in all but four. The first indication of them was 



