dkEENLAND OR POLAR tCE. 



ing of snow, annually deposited to the depfli of 

 two or three feet on the ice dissolves. Now^ 

 as this field is supposed to arise amidst the oldef 

 and heavier ice, it may readily occupy the whole 

 interval, and be cemented to the old ice on every 

 side ; whence, the melted snow has no means of 

 escape. Or, whatever be the means of its reten - 

 tion on the surface of the young field, whether 

 by the adjunction of higher ice, the elevation of 

 its border by the pressure of the surrounding ice, 

 or the irregularity of its own surface, several 

 inches of ice must be added to its thickness on 

 the returning winter, by the conversion of the 

 snow-water into solid ice. This process repeated 

 for many successive years, or even ages, together 

 with the enlargement of its under- side from the 

 ocean, niight be deemed sufficient to produce the 

 most stupendous bodies of ice that have yet been 

 discovered ; at the same time that the ice thus 

 formed, would doubtless correspond with the 

 purity and transparency of that of fields in gene- 

 ral. 



Fields may sometimes have their origin in 

 heavy close packs, which, being cemented toge- 

 ther by the intervention of new ice, may become 



♦ That snow is deposited on the ice in high northern lati- 

 tudes, is here allowed, because no field has yet been met witii 

 iSrhieh did not isupport a considerable burthen of it 



