~ 
n—so much to my astonishment and surprise, 
_ notice. I have observed since, that the ciconriabtenbes sikder whlch bodies of teal 
360 Gen. Totten on Disappearance of Ice in Northern Lakes. 
or unfrozen portions of at most a few acres each, and a strip of 
water next the shores, was one t expanse of ice, of a thick- 
ness not less than twelve inches, and apparently, looking merely 
at the surface, as solid as ever. 
During the following night there arose a strong wind from the. 
southward, blowing, therefore, nearly lengthwise of the lake; 
and when I looked out the following morning not a particle of 
ice was to be seen, but instead thereof, a lively play of water 
sparkling with “white caps.” e was, as determined by 
immediate and close examination, absolutely no ice mim the 
much to partake of the marvellous as to require a higher solu- 
tion than philosophy was able, consistently to supply 
I venture, in offering this mite to the collections of the Asso- 
sistent philosophy that nature loves. : 
The fringe of broken ice was found to consist wholly of pris- 
matic fragments, all of which, excepting a few broken trans- 
versely, were of uniform length, namely a length exactly equal 
to the. thickness of the mass of ice of which they had been por- 
tions. 
The sides of these fragments were irregular as to number and 
form; the breadth or thickness varying sometimes in the same 
sins from three-quarters of an inch to an inch and a half—per- 
ps a little more or less; but notwithstanding such variations, 
there was a general agreement as to shape and’size, and the gen- 
eral result in all was a decidedly prismatic form. There were, 
* The following description and remarks, as far as relates to details, belongs to 
i case the to 
to be detected by cleavage, unless indeed, the of 
ongealation has been disturbed by forces too great for an observance of the law 
rysiallization, Such deviations do not however, it is thought, touch the general 
4 
is nay 
uo ea 
