The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-03-12
PROOFS FROM ICEBERGs.

Now. if such mountain Of ice as
l have described is really in. existence
at the South Pole, as all biologists
agree in saying, it follows inevitably
that many huge icebergs must be con-
stantly breaking off from it's outer
cages and drifting away to the north
ward. AS mater of fact, such is
round to be the case. The following
list presents few of the many exam
pies which might be adduced Of the
monstrous size of these floating noun
ta1ns. 1t is taken from the twelfth
number of the meteorological papers,
published by the London board of trade
and from the excellent article of Mr.
TowsOn, on the ''Ioebergs of the South
ern Ocean:
Dec. l, 1S59.-An iceberg $50 feet
high and two and a half to three miles
long was seen by Capt. Smithers, of
the Edmund. in latitude 5052 south,
longitude 1888 west.
January, 1S67.-The bark Scott, from
the west coast of America, on her way
to Liverpool, passed some icebergs 900
feet high and miles in length.
December, 1S56.-Capt P Wakem,
ship Ellen Radford, found, in latitude
1921 south, longitude 43.43 west, two
large icebergs, one at last 800 feet high:
March %, 1S55-The Agneta passed
an iceberg in latitude 53.14 south, long
itude 14.41 east, $50 feet high.
Aug. 49, 1S40.-The Dutch ship Gen
eral Barton Van Green passed an ice
berg 1000 feet high in latitude 1882
south, longitude 14.10 east"
In the regions where most of these
icebergs were met with the mean dem
sity of the sea- is about 1.0256. The
density of ice is 80. The density Of
icebergs to that of the sea is, there
fore, as 1 to Ills, consequently every
foot of ice above water indicates 81
feet below water. 1t therefore follows
that those icebergs 400 feet high had
$3.50 feet under water; $3.50 feet would,
consequently, be the thickness of the
ice The icebergs which were 500 feet
high would be 1850 feet thick, those
600 feet high would have a total thick
ness of $500 feet, and those 700 feet
| high would be no less than $3.50 feet
thick, which is more than a mile and a
quarter. The iceberg $50 feet high, sit
uated by the Agneta, would be actually
9,312 feet thick which is upward of a
mile and three-quarters.
But even the foregoing exhibit is far
| from indicating the enormous bulk of
these icy wanderers. The edge of the
| great ice cap from which they are bro
ken off is in the seventies Hence.
| when a berg is found in the forties and
| thirtieS, which latter was the case with
| the monster seen by the Van Geen, it
means that it has been adrift weeks
or. months. possibly years, and may be
mere fragment Of what it was at the
moment of being launched upon its
long journey.
1t will be noted, too, that the ice
bergs of the foregoing list belong to
the days of our fathers. Those of to-
| day are much larger and more fire.
| quent. according to the reports we are
now getting from whaling captains and
| others. Findlay, in his celebrated
Nautical Directories" speaks of ice
bergs, seen as far north as the Cane
| of Good Hope, which were two or three
miles wide by seven or eight miles
long, showing twelve or fifteen hundre d
| feet above the water.
Mr.. c. e. Borchgrevink, whose ex-
petition is now on it's way to the South
Polar regions. seems to think that the
warmth is increasing there If so. the
| change would favor the breaking ur
of the ice cap His words ('Nature >
vol. So, p. 375) are: 1--WE had compare
lively high temperature during on,
voyage. higher than Sir James Ross ex-
perienced. and higher than those OBJ.
served last year by the whaling fleet
south of Cape Horn"
/ Indeed, the reports of vast icebergs in
| the southern oceans have been so many
of late years that it cannot be doubt
ed that the distntegration Of the great