National Republican., 1880-03-08
MISCELLANEOUS.
Ice In the Arctic IlorIon,

The unlucky prisoner In the field of leo
during the imposing unbroken loneliness of
the long Arctic night, when the wind is
calm, can hear the crucllo Of the snow under
the stealthy tread of the polar bear at an
astonishing distance, and hear what "A man
speaking loud, says at 1000 metres distance
1t can, therefore, be well understood how tho
sound of tho ice pressures must travel TO his
car from enormous distances. Sometimes"
tho author writes, "the noise of the leo
movements was scarcely to be heard-a
mere murmur-and came to our ears as
does the play Of tho waves on a sleep
coast from the far distance. Sometimes IL
hummed and roarcd closer to us, as If
whole column of hcayily.laden wagons were
being drawn over the uneven ice surface"
In the sound wore combined all manner OF
noises caused by cracking, grinding, falling
OF blocks, crushing aud many other pheno-
mena OF ice life. IL is astonishing how far and
how clearly every noise is conducted on the
ice. The noise at tho very margin Of the field
on which we were seemed to occur immedi-
ately at our feet IL we placcd
ourear to the ice the sound was heard so loudly
that we might have expected the ice to open
under our feet the next moment. The whole
dry ice covering was as q vast sounding board.
Whenever as l lay down to sleep. / placed
my ear against the dry wooden ship's side. |
heard humming and buzzing, which was
nothing else but the sum of all the noises
which occurred In the ice at great distance
from the ship.
A curious fact Is described by the author.
that the surface of an oXpanseisof young salt
water ice on which no snow has yet fallen is
solt, so that the footsteps are impressed upon its
white covering as in melting snow. This is
to be observed even at a temperature of 400 c.
Tho unfrozcn fluid is not water, but u concon-
trated solution ofsalt thrown out by the freez-
ing of the ice beneath
When summer begins, the tlawinQ that oc.
ours is very local and unequal ANY dark
Dody' such as heap of ashes, or the drop.
pings of bears, eats lis way into the snow nh.
sorbing the rays of heat, which arc reflected
on again By the general white surface. The
bear droppings eat their way into the snow.
aud then into the ice, and the Conical hole
thus formed fills itself with water. IL NAV.
at last, eat its way right through the ice
where not very thick. Thus arc formed the
greater part of these holes in drift ice which
are usually ascrbed to seals. The author
never saw II seals hole in winter.
Icebergs are subjected to disintegraton after
somewhat the same manner az rocks so COM
monty are. They are full of crevasses, into
which the water formed by melting penetrates.
In winter this water freezes, and by its expan-
sion all through the glacier a rupture of the
mass ensues. 1t is highly probable that most
OF the icebergs afloat in water are in such u
condition that very slight cause is sufficient
to make them burst because OF their state of
internal tension. Every nolor
traveller can tell how q shot, the driving in of
an ice anchor, or any other sudden vibration has
brought about the catastrophe; cases have even
occurred in which the sound of the voice alone
was sufficient. An iceberg is always an un.
pleasant neighbor SO many are the causes
which tend to destroy icebergs that tho
author concludes, "No berg exists which could
Withstand them more than ten years, and that
commonly tho life of berg is much shorter"
However, this may be, doubtless the much
larger Antarctic bergs last very much longer
rs must necessarily occur because of the much
greater uniformity of the climate To which
they are xposed.-Nat,ye