Smyrna times., 1855-10-17
Selttt af(istellang,
Remarks on Ice bv Scientific Men.

I .fc American, and think them WORTHY of con.
sideration:
FROZEN WELLs.-Professor J. Brocklesby
@ iedu paper on certain frozen wells in Owego
D lloga county, n. Y. These are two in mum.
Der, and freeze in the latter part of winter. and
remain frozen till July, while in September the
water Is represented to be too warm ia
drink. Mr.. Macomber visited one of them !,
= february: 1t has since fallen in. lie found
IL SIX feet down to the water, which was
frozen over so hard that they tried in vain to
Oreak the Ice with a lead at the end of a line
The wall was covered with ice for some dis.
tance up. There seemed to be current of
air blowing utterly in the well, and candle
was eXtingushed before reaching the ice The
wen wasdr the summer time and at that time
the ground was SAID to be so cold IS to render j,
impossible to work long in it without being
warmly clothed. A chain pump was put in
o"e oi tneih, Out was soon removed, as the ice
rendered it useless.
Professor GuyOt alluded to the ice cavcs
In the Jurassic formation in MANY parts of En-
rope. lie lnstanced one of these caves aboui
sixty feet Deep whose hottOrn was always CO.
Vefed with ice several feet in thickness. while
s'hIactltes Ol ice depended from the roof The
Whole was a small glacier. The stalactites
were formed by water percolatng through the
| covering OF the cave: these were situated three
thousand feet above the level of the sea.
Professor William b. Rogers had to state
slihlIar occurrences IN range of mountains
composed OF Il porous sand rock in Southern
virginia But he could not see that anv ac.
cumuiatlon OF snow at the bottom of well sLouId
generate Ice about its Sides
" Professor Olmstead supposed that tboro
was current OF air circulating through the
earth near lis surface In winter il would he
Oeiow the freezing point, and in the summer it
would not melt the ice, as the evauoraIlon
would produce cooling effect.
Or. LIQUID alluded to the ordinary method
OF otfreezlng ice together by mere juxtaposition.
IL was MS fortune to have a friend who was
particularly fond on warm days of refreshing
himself with very highly iced beverage in
winch the ice was present In very small nircss
ana sometimes eaten with a spoon. His expe.
riehce was that pieces Of ice frequently adher.
ed 10 the spoon, and that too, although the
mixture was an alcoholic one
Professor Henry said that the fact present.
ed by DIR. Gould was also referred to him NV
the same gentlemen, who was also n friend of
his. lie repeated the experiment. To nro.
duce a-pertect experiment it was necessary that
all the conditions should be Observed He must
therefore, give them: sugar, and wine and wa
Ter were mingled with ice, but instead of d. ! a
Pehulhg upon The taste he Immersed thermom I
eter ana observed reduction. With strong q
alcohol be obtained a still greater reduction,
showing that alcohol has SO great an stIinitr q
Tor water that 1t melts the ice-that this 10 v
freezing mixture u
Professor Agassiz explained the different 4
Aihus OF ice. First was that produced by the II
'eeZi"g OF inc surface OF the water, and sue b
,c99''' layers OF water beneath 1t, lamnated t
'chlStose mass. In this bubbles from the hot. q
l.,
when 1t was subjected to the action of tho sn, b
ne bubbles became heated, melted the ice
Irouhd them, and rendered it of no marketable c.
'dIue' IL would, therefore, be worth while for u
&C gamers 10 cover their ponds with clothes tc
u something which would prevent these bub W
lies from rising. Glacier ice was formed lite c,
'uuuihg stone; compact masses being cement p
u together SO that when you exposed a LARGE b,
ump OF glacier ice TO the heat of the spn IL II,
'onid crumoie TO pieces. 1t was like the de.
o'nposltlon OF conglomerate we had ice-sand bl
0cOelss couId De determined to be derived
% RON s'aclers and not to be the frozen surface re
lnI oceai' oy their conglomerate composition. m
'eooles IN IN glaciers, becoming heated. melted OF
ne Ice beneath them, and quarried their w.v So
own TO where the heat of the sun could moi az
each them. The pot holes formed in ,h;s pa
'ay were soon covered with thin film of ice m
" 1t was only during the prolracted cold ot sa
inter that they were frozen through.
Professor Brooklesby could not see the ra
nalogy between an ice cave and we'll no NJ
ID not think the phenomenon had been explain
~, be
The present generation have left tbema wide
eld 10 explore. Wherever We turn we find
ysteres too deep to be solved to the satisfscl 49,
OH of all. S"'''i'0- no
Let our young friends enter the arena Of sci ho
ltlhc investigation, with a determination 70 so
vance science, and to gain laurels for them. no
Ives, and trophies for science. '1O'" r., ~