Oregon Republican. [volume] (Dallas, Or.) 1870-1872, 1871-04-15

Ice mas Its Pecullarities While
chemically it is only crystalized water,
we tind, in investigating the circum-
stances of its cUngelation, some things
which surprise US, or would, if We gave
them thought. The freezing point of
fresh water is said to be $40 vet, if
the water is kept perfectly still, and
nothing is thrust into it, the tempera-
ture may fall to l50, or, as some chem
lists assert, to 81 before it congeals, the
moral to be drawn which is, Keep still
If you do not want TO get into fix"
Another OF its peculiaritics is that,
while most liquids contract on assum-
ing the solid form, water expands. 1t
does this, however, only within certain
limits. Till it reaches the temperature
Iof 39', water, in giving up portions of
its latent heat, contracts, though very
moderately; ; between 39o aud 32o (the
point OF solldilication), it expands about
| per cent, or one ninth Oh its prcyi-
GUS ulk aud this expansion is 50 ire.
sistable as to form an explosive force
nearly equal to that Of gunpowdcr,
calculated by physicists at 27,720
pounds TO the cubic inch The reason
for this departure from the general law
in the case Of The qualification of water
is obvious, though it has never, 50 far
rs We know, been adduccd az among the
evidence oi design on the part OF the
Creator. II water, like oils aud the
Z haa
became solid, il would sink to the bottom
of the lake. pond, or stream. on which
it formed, aud 1 a. successive layers Of
ice formed in cold season sinking as
they col gealed, the body or stream of
water would be wholly solidified. and
only become liquid again after long
season of destruction Of Gnuy tribes
which luhabit the waters, To the dlml-
mutton of the evaporation from their
surface. sud the consequent deminish.
ing of the rainfall IL lower means
OF animal temperature, backward sea-
sons, and small and imperfect crops.
The regions where the ice sunk as 1t
iroze would soon become a bleak aud
barren desert Under the existing nat
ural Law the water beneath the ice re-
tains temperature not below 32".
Another peculiarly of ice is its
greatly increased density and tenacity
under protracted and severe cold. Most
liquids, on ASSUMING the solid form, re
tain that form, without material change
ss long rs the temperature remains be-
low fhe point of liqucfaetion. further
decrease OF temperature effecting no
precptible difference in their density
But the ice, formed at temperature OF
25o to 500 Fahr., is as different from
that which is found when the tcmpera
ture has ranged for some time between
loo and--1o Fahr., as chalk is from
granite. The ice at the lower temper
ature is dense and hard as n flint :; it
strikes fire with pick or skate, aud, as
in st Petersburg, in ls40, when masses
Of it were turned aad bored for cannon
though but 4 inches thick, they were
loaded with iron cannon balls, and a
charge of a quarter of pound of pow.
der, and fired without explosion.
Still another popularity of ice is
that in process of freezing the impuri-
ties (salts, etc. J, held in solution in the
water are eliminated, and only the pure
waters takes on the crystalized form.
This is a very important fact, and is of
ten made use of by practical chemists
in concentrating tinetures, vinegar, al-
eoholic preparations, ETC., by freezing
out the water which they contain
1ppieton's Journal
LADY A correspondent of an Eng
lish paper gives the following as the
derivation of the word "lady:" 1t is
not probably generally understood that
the term is compounded OF two Saxon
words leaf or 'laf,' signifying loaf