by nature, would not yield: ice of a folid texture capable of" 

 melting to frefh water without warning, merely by draining ; 

 which nraft take place in mountains of ice, if any are formed in-* 

 the Northern Sea : becaufe, ice being fpecifically lighter than: 

 water, and the accefs of congealed water being at the bafe, the 

 portions firft frozen will, be raifed" above the water by fucceeding. 

 portions, frozen, and thus a mountain of ice may be railed, whofe 

 ma r s and height above water willbe to the maffive bafe immerfed* 

 in water, inverfely as the fpecific gravity of ice is to that of water,. 



" I placed therefore a gallon of fea-water in a glazed earthen? 

 veffel, whofe diameter was one-third greater than the depth of? 

 the water. In this water I flung a thin glafs bafon cut from & 

 bolt-head, capable of containing near two quarts, of water, irii 

 fuch manner that it might be immerfed two inches deep in the 

 fea- water. The veffel containing the fea- water was furrounded 

 with fnow. I then filled the bafon, which was fufpended in the 

 fea-water, with fnow preffed down with a glafs-peftle, and 

 poured into the fnow the ufual quantity of ftrong nitrous acid. 



" In fifteen minutes fbme cryftals of ice were formed on the 

 interior glafs bafon, in the part where it was contiguous to the 

 furface of the fea-water.. In three hours the whole bottom of the 

 bafon, containing the frigorific mixture, was coated with ice, 

 the thicknefs of which was half an inch or lefs at the bottom of 

 the bafon, increafing to three-fourths of an inch at the part 

 which correfponded with the furface of the water. 



" I eafily feparated it entire from the bafon, found it fb-me- 

 what firmer in its aggregation than the ice flowly formed by 

 natural freezing, and not compofed of laminae like this latter; 

 but fimilar in texture to the falt-water frozen by artificial cold 

 applied in the ufual manner. I placed it on a heap of fnow, 

 where it remained to drain upwards of fix hours, but ftill was 

 3 Wet 



