ENDOSMOSIS. 
349 
a new departure together, were blown over a few- 
times, and tumbled over, no matter how often; but 
we hit the ships to a notch. 
" This crack is the old transverse one from north- 
east to southwest, off the Rescue's port beam. The 
gale, with such a temperature, must be achieving 
much upon the ice to the southward. It can hardly 
reach men so imbedded as we are; but it may so 
break up the southern edge of the pack as to give us 
a ready drift, should we have a favoring wind. As it 
is, we are undoubtedly flicking it to the north again. 
April 15. The sun perceptibly warmer, and the in- 
dications of thaw unequivocal. To guard as far as 
we can against the chance of the two vessels being 
separated among the floes when the general break-up 
comes, we began a trench to-day from one to the other. 
It goes down through the snow to the solid ice ; and 
we are going to strew rock-salt in it, remembering 
that even a slight scratch on the surface will determ- 
ine the line of fracture. We will try it at any rate, 
even across the entire floe to the present seat of hum- 
mocking at the open water, though it is a distance of 
nearly or quite two miles. We are looking to our 
approaching disruption with absorbing interest; and, 
whether our theories are good or bad, they give us 
something to think and talk about. Our ice-cutting 
machine belongs to the same family. We finished it 
f to-day, and it will be tested to-morrow. 
" The ice in the neighborhood of the fire-hole is wet 
and overflowed. It seems to be depressed below the 
water-level. The snow has piled up some seven oi 
eight feet high on the vessels' side, and this, with the 
radiating heat, may possibly explain this depression. 
But I am strongly inclined to believe in endosmotic 
actions in the ice. 
