Pole. Ankudinoff's vessel was wrecked, and the crew distri- * have reached the latitude of 83°.-2. From the testimony of Captain Cheyne, who gave answers to certain queries drawn up by Mr Dalrymple concerning the polar seas, it appears that he had been in the latitude of 82°.-3. One Mr Watt informed our author, that when he was 17 years of age, at that time making his first voyage with Captain M'Callam, a bold and skilful navigator, who commanded a Scotch whale-fishing ship, as during the time that the whales are supposed to copulate no fishing can be carried on, the captain resolved to employ that interval in attempting to reach the north pole. He accordingly proceeded without the least obFrom Captain Cook's voyage twards the north-struction to 83, when the sea was not only open to eastern part of Asia, it appears that it is possible to Discove double the promontory of Tschutski without any great rics, N° 95 difficulty; and it now appears, that the continents of Asia and America are separated from one another but by a narrow strait, which is free from ice; but, to the northwards, that experienced navigator was everywhere stopped by the ice in the month of August, so that he could neither trace the American continent farther than to the latitude of 70°, nor reach the mouth of the river Kovyma on the Asiatic continent; though it is probable that this might have been done at another time, when the situation of the ice was altered either by winds * See Cook's -100. Insur in the north-east passage. or currents. On the whole, therefore, it appears that the insurmountable mountable obstacle in the north-east passage lies between obstacles the rivers Piasida and Chatanga; and unless there be in that space a connection between the Asiatic and American continents, there is not in any other part. Ice, however, is as effectual an obstruction as land: and though the voyage were to be made by accident for once, it never could be esteemed a passage calculated for the purposes of trade, or any other beneficial purpose whatever. 12 Of the assage. With regard to the north-west passage, the same difnorth-west ficulties occur as in the other. Captain Cook's voyage has now assured us, that if there is any strait which divides the continent of America into two, it must lie in higher latitude than 70°, and consequently be perpetually frozen up. If a north-west passage can be found then, it must be by sailing round the whole American continent, instead of seeking a passage through it, which some have supposed to exist at the bottom of Baffin's bay. But the extent of the American continent to the northward is yet unknown; and there is a possibility of its being joined to that part of Asia between the Piasida and Chatanga, which has never yet been circumnavigated*. It remains therefore to consider, whether there is any possibility of attaining the wished-for passage by Discove- sailing directly north, between the eastern and western ies. N° II. continents. Sce Cook's 13 ments in avour of the northward, but they had seen no ice for the last three degrees; but while he still advanced, the mate complained that the compass was not steady, and the captain was obliged with reluctance to give over his attempt.-4. Dr Campbell, the continuator of Harris's voyages, informed Mr Barrington, that Dr Dallie, a native of Holland, being in his youth on board a Dutch ship of war which at that time was usually sent to superintend the Greenland fishery, the captain determined,. like the Scotchman above mentioned, to make an attempt to reach the pole during the interval between the first and second fisheries. He penetrated, according to the best of Dr Campbell's recollection, as far as 88°; when the weather was warm, the sea free from ice, and rolling like the bay of Biscay. Dallie now pressed the captain to proceed: but he answered, that he had already gone too far, and should be blamed in Holland for neglecting his station; upon which account he would suffer no journal to be kept, but returned as soon as possible to Spitsbergen.-5. In the year 1662-3, Mr Oldenburg, then secretary of the Royal Society, was ordered to register a paper, entitled "Several Inquiries concerning Greenland, answered by Mr Gray, who had visited. these parts." The 19th of these queries is the following: How near hath any one been known to approach the pole? The answer is, "I once met upon the coast of Greenland a Hollander that swore he had been half a degree from the pole, showing me his journal, which was also attested by his mate; where they had seen no ice or land, but all water."-6. In Captain Wood's account of a voyage in quest of the north-east passage, we have the following account of a Dutch ship which reached the latitude of 89°. "Captain Goulden, who had made above 30 voyages to Greenland, did relate to his majesty, that being at Greenland some 20 years be fore, he was in company with two Hollanders to the eastward of Edge's island; and that the whales not appearing on the shore, the Hollanders were determined to go farther northward; and in a fortnight's time returned, and gave it out that they had sailed into the latiBurring- Of the practicability of this method, the Honourable tude 89°, and that they did not meet with any ice, but on's argu- Daines Barrington is very confident, as appears by se- a free and open sea, and that there run a very hollow veral tracts which he published in the years 1775 and grown sea like that of the bay of Biscay. Mr Goul 1776, in consequence of the unsuccessful attempts made den being not satisfied with the bare relation, they propossibility reaching by Captain Phipps, afterwards Lord Mulgrave. See duced him four journals out of the two ships, which NORTH-East Passage-In the tracts now alluded to testified the same, and that they all agreed within four he instances a great number of navigators who have minutes."-7. In the Philosophical Transactions for reached very high northern latitudes; nay, some who 1675 we have the following passage: "For it is well have been at the pole itself, or gone beyond it.-known to all that sail northward, that most of the northThese instances are 1., One Captain Thomas Robertson assured our author, that he had been in latitude 82, that the sea was open, and he was certain that he could e pole. ern coasts are frozen up for many leagues, though in the pole Pole. that on such a supposition, by the continual intensity Pole. pole is alluded to as a known fact, and as such stated to the Royal Society.-8. Mr Miller, in his Gardener's Dictionary, mentions the voyage of one Captain Johnson, who reached 88 degrees of latitude. Mr Barrington was at pains to find a full account of this voyage; but met only with the following passage in Buffon's Natural History, which he takes to be a confirmation of it. "I have been assured by persons of credit, that an English captain, whose name was Monson, instead of seeking a passage to China between the northern countries, had directed his course to the pole, and had approached it within two degrees, where there was an open sea, without any ice." Here he thinks that M. Buffon has mistaken Johnson for Monson.-9. A map of the northern hemisphere, published at Berlin (under the direction of the academy of Sciences and Belles Lettres), places a ship at the pole, as having arrived there according to the Dutch accounts.-10. Moxon, hydrographer to Charles II. gives an account of a Dutch ship having been two degrees beyond the pole, which was much relied on by Wood. This vessel found the weather as warm there as at Amsterdam. Besides these, there are a great number of other testimonies of ships which have reached the latitude of 81,82, 83, 84 (A), &c.; from all which our author concludes, that if the voyage is attempted at a proper time of the year, there would not be any great difficulty of reaching the pole. Those vast pieces of ice which commonly obstruct the navigators, he thinks, proceed from the mouths of the great Asiatic rivers which run northward into the frozen ocean, and are driven eastward and westward by the currents. But though we should suppose them to come directly from the pole, still our author thinks that this affords an undeniable proof that the pole itself is free from ice; because, when the pieces leave it, and come to the southward, it is impossible that they can at the same time accumulate at the pole. Why we, The extreme cold of the winter air on the continents cannot sup-of Asia and America has afforded room for suspicion, that at the pole itself, and for several degrees to the southward of it, the sea must be frozen to a vast depth in one solid cake of ice; but this Mr Barrington refutes from several considerations. In the first place, he says, 14 pose the sea all round the pole to be frozen. Pole. Again, the system of nature is so formed, that all parts of the earth are exposed for the same length of time, or nearly so, throughout the year to the rays of the sun. But, by reason of the spheroidal figure of the terraqueous globe, the poles and polar regions enjoy the sun somewhat longer than others; and hence the Dutch who wintered in Nova Zembla in 1672 saw the sun a fortnight sooner than they ought to have done by astronomical calculations. By reason of this flatness about the poles, too, the sun not only shines for a greater space of time on these inhospitable regions, but with less obliquity in the summer-time, and hence the effect of his rays must be the greater. Now Mr Barrington considers it as an absurd supposition, that this glorious luminary should shine for six months on a cake of barren ice where there is neither animal nor vegetable. He says that the polar seas are assigned by nature as the habitation of the whales, the largest animals in the creation; but if the greatest part of the polar seas are for ever covered with an impenetrable cake of ice, these huge animals will be confined within very narrow bounds; for they cannot subsist without frequently coming to the top of the water to breathe. Lastly, the quantity of water frozen by different de- Quantity of of cold is by no means directly in proportion to ice formed grees the intensity of the cold, but likewise to the duration is not al of it. Thus, large bodies of water are never frozen in ways in proportion any temperature of short duration, though shallow bo-to the dedies often are. Our author observes, that as much of gree of a given mass of water was frozen in five hours of a tem-cold. perature 12° below the freezing point, as was frozen in one 15 (A) See M. Bauche's Observations on the North or Ice Sea, where he gives an account of various attempts made to reach the pole, from which he is convinced that the sea is there open, and that the thing is practicable. M. de Pages, in his Travels, vol. iii. informs us, that he wished to take a voyage to the north seas, for the purpose of bringing under one view the various obstacles from the ice, which have impeded the researches of navigators in those seas; and for this purpose he was prepared to continue his voyage to as high a latitude as possible, and that he might be able to say whether any land actually exists north from the coast of Greenland. He sailed without any encouragement from his court (France) on the 16th of April 1776 from the Texel, in a Dutch vessel bound to Spitsbergen. On the 16th of May she was a little way north of 81°, the highest latitude she * reached. Being now (says the author) less than 180 leagues from the pole, the idea of so small a distance served effectually to awaken my curiosity. Had I been able to inspire my fellow-voyagers with sentiments similar to my own, the winds and currents which at this moment carried us fast towards the pole, a region hitherto deemed inaccessible to the eye of mortals, would have been saluted with acclamations of joy. This quarter, however, is not the most eligible for such an enterprise: here the sea lying in the vicinity of those banks of ice, so frequent a little farther to the west, is much too confined. Nevertheless, when I consider the very changeable nature of the shoals under whatever form, even in their most crowded and compact state; their constant changes and concussions which break and detach them from one another, and the various expedients that may be employed for freeing the ship from confinement, as well as for obviating impending danger-I am far from viewing a voyage to the pole as a chimerical idea.” Pole. 16 Mr Fors ments a one hour of the temperature 50° below it; and that long duration of the temperature between 20 and 32 is, with regard to the congelation of water, equivalent to intensity of cold such as is marked o and below o in Fahrenheit, but of short duration. See COLD and CON GELATION. On the other hand, Mr Forster, in his Observations, ter's argu- takes the contrary side of the question with no little rainst the vehemence. "I know (says he) that M. de Buffon, Possibility Lomonosof, and Crantz, were of opinion, that the ice of reachfound in the ocean is formed near the lands only, from ng the the fresh water and ice carried down into the sea by the pole. many rivers in Siberia, Hudson's bay, &c.; and therefore, when we fell in with such quantities of ice in December 1772, I expected we should soon meet with the land from whence these ice masses had been detached. But being disappointed in the discovery of this land, though we penetrated beyond the 67° twice, and once beyond 710, south latitude, and having besides some other doubts concerning the existence of the pretended southern continent, I thought it necessary to inquire what reasons chiefly induced the above authors to form the opinion that the ice floating in the ocean must be formed near land, or that an austral land is absolutely requisite for that purpose: and having looked for their arguments, I find they amount chiefly to this: That the ice floating in the ocean is all fresh that salt water does not freeze at all; or if it does, it contains briny particles. They infer from thence, that the ice in the ocean cannot be formed in the sea far from any land: there must therefore exist austral lands; because, in order to form an idea of the original of the great ice masses agreeably to what is observed in the northern hemisphere, they find that the first point for fixing the high iceislands is the land; and, secondly, that the great quantity of flat ice is brought down the rivers.' I have impartially and carefully considered and examined these arguments, and compared every circumstance with what we saw in the high southern latitude, and with other known facts; and will here insert the result of all my inquiries on this subject. "First, they observe the ice floating in the ocean to yield, by melting, fresh water: which I believe to be true. However, hitherto it has by no means been generally allowed to be fresh for Crantz says expressly, that the flat pieces (forming what they call the icefields) are salt, because they were congealed from seawater. The ice taken up by us for watering the ship was of all kinds, and nevertheless we found it constantly fresh: Which proves, either that the principle of analogy cannot be applied indiscriminately in both hemispheres; and that one thing may be true in the northern hemisphere which is quite otherwise in the southern, from reasons not yet known or discovered by us; or we must think that Crantz and others are mistaken, who suppose the ice floating in the ocean to be salt. "The next remark is, That salt water does not freeze at all; or if it does, it contains briny particles. M. de Pole. Buffon tells us, 'that the sea between Nova Zembla and Spitzbergen, under the 79° north latitude, does not freeze, as it is there considerably broad: and that it is not to be apprehended to find the sea frozen not even under the pole itself; for indeed there is no example of having ever found a sea wholly frozen over, and at a considerable distance from the shores; that the only instance of a sea entirely frozen is that of the Black sea, which is narrow and not very salt, and receives a great many rivers coming from northern regions, and bringing down ice that this sea therefore sometimes freezes to such a degree, that its whole surface is congealed to a considerable thickness; and, if the historians are to be credited, was frozen, in the reign of the emperor Constantine Copronymus, 30 ells thick, not including 20 ells of snow which was lying on the ice. This fact, continues M. de Buffon, seems to be exaggerated: but it is true, however, that it freezes almost every winter ; whilst the high seas which are 1000 leagues nearer towards the pole do not freeze; which can have no other cause than the difference in saltness, and the little quantity of ice carried out by rivers, if compared to the enormous quantity of ice which the rivers convey into the Black sea.' M. de Buffon is not mistaken when he mentions that the Black sea frequently freezes. Strabo informs us, that the people near the Bosphorus Cimmerius pass this sea in carts from Panticapæum to Phanagorea; and that Neoptolemus, a general of Mithridates Eupator, won a battle with his cavalry on the ice on the very spot where he gained a naval victory in the summer. Marcellinus Comes relates, that under the consulship of Vincentius and Fravita, in the year 401 after Christ, the whole surface of the Pontus was covered with ice, and that the ice in spring was carried through the Propontis, during 30 days, like mountains.* Zonaras mentions the sea between Constantinople and Scutari frozen to such a degree in the reign of Constantine Copronymus, that even loaded carts passed over it. The prince Demetrius Cantemir observes, that in the year 1620-1 there happened so intense a frost, that the people walked over the ice from Constantinople to Iskodar. All these instances confirm M. de Buffon's assertion. But as this great natural historian says that the Black sea is the only instance of a sea being entirely frozen (B), I must beg leave to dissent from him; for it is equally well attested that the Baltic is sometimes entirely frozen, according to Caspar Schutz's account. In the year 1426, the winter was so severe, that people travelled over the ice across the Baltic from Dantzic to Lubeck; and the sea was likewise passable from Denmark to Mecklenburg: and in the year 1459 the whole Baltic was entirely frozen, so that persons travelled both on foot and on horseback, over ice, from Denmark to the Venedick Hans-towns, called Lubeck, Wismar, Rostock, and Stralsund, which had never happened before; people likewise travelled across the Baltic over ice (B) In the year 860 the Mediterranean was covered with ice, so that people travelled in carts and horses across the Ionian sea to Venice; (Hermannus Contractus ap. Pistor. Script. tom. ii. p. 236.). And in 1234 the Mediterranean was again thus frozen, that the Venetian merchants travelled over the ice with their merchandise to what place they chose; Matt. Paris, p. 78. Pole. ice from Revel in Estland to Denmark and to Sweden, and back again, without the least danger (c). But, according to Sæmund Frode, even the great German ocean between Denmark and Norway was frozen in the year 1040, so that the wolves frequently ran over the ice from one country to the other. The great northern ocean is likewise most certainly sometimes frozen to a great distance from any land for Muller relates, that in the year 1715 a Cossack called Markoff, with some other persons, was sent by the Russian government to explore the north sea; but finding it next to impossible to make any progress during summer on account of the vast quantities of ice commonly filling this ocean, he at last determined to try the experiment during winter. He therefore took several sledges drawn according to the custom of the country by dogs, which commonly go about 80 or 100 versts per day, 105 of which make a degree; and on March the 15th, old style, with this caravan of nine persons, he left the shores of Siberia at the mouth of the river Yana, under the 71° of north latitude, and proceeded for seven days together northward, so that he had reached at least the 77° or 78° north latitude, when he was stopped by the ice, which there began to appear in the shape of prodigious mountains. He climbed up to the top of some of these icemountains but seeing from thence no land, nor any thing except ice as far as the eye could reach, and have ing besides no more food for his dogs left, he thought it very necessary to return; which he with great difficulty performed on April the 3d, as several of the dogs, which had perished for want, were employed to support those that remained alive. These facts, I believe, will convince the unprejudiced reader, that there are other seas besides the Black sea which really do freeze in winter, and that the ice carried down the rivers could not at least freeze the German ocean between Norway and Denmark, because the rivers there are so small, and bear a very inconsiderable proportion to the immense ocean, which, according to experiments made by Mr Wilkie, is very salt, though near the land, in the Swedish harbour of Landscrona. "Now, if six or seven degrees of latitude, containing from 360 to 420 sea-miles, are not to be reckoned a great distance from the land, I do not know in what manner to argue, because no distance whatsoever will be reckoned far from any land. Nay, if the Cossack Markoff, being mounted on one of the highest ice-mountains may be allowed to see at least to the distance of 20 leagues, the extent alluded to above must then be increased to 480 English sea-miles; which certainly is very considerable, and makes it more than probable that the ocean is frozen in winter, in high northern latitudes, even as far as the pole. Besides, it invalidates the argument which these gentlemen wish to infer from thence, that the ocean does not freeze in high latitudes, especially where there is a considerably broad sea; for we have shown instances to the contrary. "But M. de Buffon speaks of ice carried down the rivers into the northern ocean, and forming there these immense quantities of ice. "And in case, says he, we would suppose, against all probability, that at the pole it could be so cold as to congeal the surface of the sea, it would remain equally incomprehensible how these enormous floating ice-masses could be formed, if they had not land for a point to fix on, and from whence they are severed by the heat of the sun. The two ships which the India Company sent in 1739 upon the discovery of the austral lands, found ice in 47° or 48° south latitude, but at no great distance from land; which they discovered, without being able to approach it. This ice, therefore, must have come from the interior parts of the lands near the south pole; and we must conjecture, that it follows the course of several large rivers, washing these unknown lands, in the same manner as the rivers Oby, the Yenisea, and the other great rivers which fall into the northern sea, carry the ice-masses, which stop up the straits of Waigats for the greater part of the year, and render the Tartarian sea inaccessible upon this course. Before we can allow the analogy between the rivers Oby, Yenisea, and the rest which fall into the northern ocean, and those coming from the interior parts of the austral lands, let us compare the situation of both countries, supposing the austral lands really to exist. The Oby, Yenisea, and the rest of the Siberian rivers, (c) In 1296 the Baltic was frozen from Gothland to Sweden. monument. Cimbr. tom. i. p. 1392. Incerti auctoris Annales Denor. in Westphalii In 1306 the Baltic was, during fourteen weeks, covered with ice between all the Danish and Swedish islands. (Ludwig. reliquiæ, MSS tom. ix. p. 170.). In 1323 there was a road for foot passengers and horsemen over the ice on the Baltic during six weeks. (id. ibid.) In 1349 people walked over the ice from Stralsund to Denmark. (Incerti auct. cit. ap. Ludwig. tom. ix. p. 181. In 1408 the whole sea between Gothland and Oeland, and likewise between Rostock and Gezoer, was frozen. In 1423 the ice bore riding from Prussia to Lubec. (Crantzii Vandal. lib. x. c. 40.). The whole sea was 66 In 1461 (says Nicol. Marschallus in Annal. Herul. ap. Westphal. tom. i. p. 261.), “ tanta erat hyems, ut concreto gelu oceano, plaustris millia passuum supra CCC merces ad ultimam Thylen (Iceland) et Orcades veherentur e Germania tota pene bruma.' In 1545 the sea between Rostock and Denmark, and likewise between Fionia and Sealand, was thus frozen, that the people travelled over the ice on foot, with sledges to which horses and oxen were put. (Anonym, ap. Ludwig. tom. ix. p. 176.). In 1294 the Cattegat or sea between Norway and Denmark was frozen; that from Oxslo in Norway, they could travel on it to Jutland. (Strelow Chron. Juthiland, p. 148.). Pole. Pole. 17 the ezing saltter. rivers, falling down into the northern ocean, have their sources in 48° and 50° north latitude, where the climate is mild and capable of producing corn of all kinds. All the rivers of this great continent increasing these great rivers have likewise their sources in mild and temperate climates, and the main direction of their course is from south to north; and the coast of the northern ocean, not reckoning its sinuosities, runs in general west and east. The small rivers which are formed in high latitudes have, properly speaking, no sources, no springs, but carry off only the waters generated by the melting of snow in spring, and by the fall of rain in the short summer, and are for the greatest part dry in autumn. And the reason of this phenomenon is obvious, after considering the constitution of the earth in those high northern climates. At Yakutsk, in about 62° north latitude, the soil is eternally frozen, even in the height of summer, at the depth of three feet from the surface. In the years 1685 and 1686, an attempt was made to dig a well; and a man, by great and indefatigable labour, continued during two summer seasons, and succeeded so far in this laborious task, that he at last reached the depth of 91 feet; but the whole earth at this depth was frozen, and he met with no water; which forced him to desist from so fruitless an attempt. And it is easy to infer from hence how impossible it is that springs should be formed in the womb of an eternally frozen soil. "The argument, therefore, is now reduced to this, That salt water does not freeze at all; or, if it does, the ice contains briny particles. But we have already produced numberless instances, that the sea does freeze; nay, Crantz allows, that the flat pieces of ice are salt, because they were congealed from sea-water. We beg leave to add a few decisive facts relative to the freezing of the sea. Barentz observes in the year 1 596, September the 16th, the sea froze two fingers thick, and next night the ice was as thick again. This happened in the middle of September; what effect then must the intense frost of a night in January not produce? When Captain James wintered in Charleton's isle, the sea froze in the middle of December 1631. It remains, therefore, only to examine, whether the ice formed in the sea must necessarily contain briny particles. And here I find myself in a very disagreeable dilemma; for during the intense frost of the winter in 1776, two sets of experiments were made on the freezing of sea-water, and published, contradicting one another almost in every material point. The one by Mr Edward Nairne, F. R. S. an ingenious and accurate observer; the other by Dr Higgins, who reads lectures on chemistry and natural philosophy, and consequently must be supposed to be well acquainted with the subject. I will therefore still venture to consider the question as undecided by these experiments, and content myself with making a few observations on them: but previously I beg leave to make this general remark, that those who are well acquainted with mechanics, chemistry, natural philosophy, and the various arts which require a nice observation of minute aircumstances, need not be informed, that an experiment or machine succeeds often very well when made upon a smaller scale, but will not answer if undertaken at large; VOL. XVII. Part I. and, vice versa, machines and experiments executed upon a small scale will not produce the effect which they certainly have when made in a more enlarged manner. A few years ago an experiment made on the dyeing of scarlet, did not succeed when undertaken on a small scale, whereas it produced the desired effect when tried at a dyer's house with the large apparatus; and it evidently confirms the above assertion, which I think I have a right to apply to the freezing of salt water. It is therefore probable, that the ice formed in the ocean at large, in a higher latitude, and in a more intense degree of cold, whereof we have no idea here, may become solid, and free from any briny particles, though a few experiments made by Dr Higgins, in his house, on the freezing of salt water, produced only a loose spongy ice filled with briny particles. Pole. 18 ments on "The ice formed of sea-water by Mr Nairne was Result of very hard, three inches and a half long, and two inches MrNairne's in diameter: it follows from thence, that the washing experi the outside of this ice in fresh water, could not affect the this subject. inside of a hard piece of ice. This ice when melted yielded fresh water, which was specifically lighter than water which was a mixture of rain and snow water, and next in lightness to distilled water. Had the ice thus obtained not been fresh, the residuum of the sea-water, after this ice had been taken out, could not have been specifically heavier than sea-water, which, however, was the case in Mr Nairne's experiment. It seems, therefore, in my opinion, evident from hence, that salt water does freeze, and has no other briny particles than what adhere to its outside. All this perfectly agrees with the curious fact related by Mr Adanson (D), who had brought to France two bottles of sea water, taken up in different parts of the ocean, in order to examine it, and to compare its saltness, when more at leisure; but both the bottles containing the salt water were burst by being frozen, and the water produced from melting the ice proved perfectly fresh. This fact is so fairly stated, and so very natural, that I cannot conceive it is necessary to suppose, without the least foundation for it, that the bottles were changed, or that Mr Adanson does not mention the circumstance by which the sea water was thus altered upon its being dissolved: for as he expressly observes the bottles to have been burst, it is obvious that the concentrated briny parts ran out, and were entirely drained from the ice, which was formed of the fresh water only. "The ice formed by Dr Higgins from sea water, consisted of thin lamina, adhering to eachother weakly. Dr Higgins took out the frozen ice from the vessels wherein he exposed the sea water, and continued to do so till the remaining concentrated sea water began to form crystals of sea salt. Both these experiments, therefore, by no means prove what the Doctor intended to infer from thence; for it was wrong to take out such ice, which only consisted of thin lamina, adhering to each other weakly. Had he waited with patience, he would have obtained a hard ice as well as Mr Nairne, which, by a more perfect congelation, would have excluded the briny particles intercepted between the thin lamina, adhering to each other weakly; and would have connected the la+ N minæ, (D) Second Supplement to the Probability of reaching the North Pole, p. 119. |