<h2><span class="h2line1">ICE AND ITS FORMATION</span></h2>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p45.jpg" alt="" width-obs="500" height-obs="603" /> <p class="caption">106. Solid type</p> </div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p45a.jpg" alt="" width-obs="500" height-obs="636" /> <p class="caption">107. A star type. Very high altitude</p> </div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p45c.jpg" alt="" width-obs="500" height-obs="654" /> <p class="caption">108. Very unusual centre formation</p> </div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p45d.jpg" alt="" width-obs="500" height-obs="636" /> <p class="caption">109. Mosaic like</p> </div>
<h2 id="c5"><span class="h2line1">CHAPTER V</span> <br/><span class="h2line2">ICE AND ITS FORMATION</span></h2>
<div class="verse">
<p class="t0">“Down swept the chill wind from the mountain peak</p>
<p class="t0">From the snow five thousand summers old;</p>
<p class="t0">On open wold and hilltop bleak, it gathered all the cold—</p>
<p class="t0">The little brook heard it and built a roof</p>
<p class="t0">’Neath which he could house him, winter-proof.”</p>
</div>
<p>When in mid-winter, pond, lake, and
river are covered with a glittering
icy coat of mail, when the rushing babble
of the little brook sounds strangely muffled
and restrained because of its icy fetters,
then we know that all nature is once more
in the stern, iron grasp of winter, which
brings with its piercing icy breath, great
discomfort, as well as charm and exhilaration
to all.</p>
<p>For who has not at some time in their
lives revelled in the wonderful, joyous
pleasures of skating? The ice crystal-clear
beneath our polished steel, as we
glided bird-like, swiftly over the polished,
mirror-like pond beneath us. What
exhilaration and glow we found in the fascinating
sport. But how seldom, if ever, did
we give a thought to the wonderful formation,
and the beauties of that crystal surface
beneath our flying feet, or did we
dream that every bit of that ice was
cemented and joined together in exquisite
mosaic-like patterns, formed by countless
millions of tiny ice flowers, far too delicate
and small to be seen by the naked eye.
This wonderful process of ice formation
goes on, as Lowell so charmingly writes:</p>
<div class="verse">
<p class="t0">“All night by the white stars’ frosty gleams</p>
<p class="t0">He groined his arches and matched his beams;</p>
<p class="t0">Slender and clear were his crystal spars</p>
<p class="t0">As the lashes of light that trim the stars;</p>
<p class="t0">Sometimes his tinkling waters slipt</p>
<p class="t0">Down through a frost-leaved forest-crypt.”</p>
</div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p46.jpg" alt="" width-obs="500" height-obs="718" /> <p class="caption">110. Feathery type</p> </div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p46a.jpg" alt="" width-obs="500" height-obs="703" /> <p class="caption">111. Clear prism-like branches</p> </div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p46c.jpg" alt="" width-obs="500" height-obs="722" /> <p class="caption">112. Solid type. Probably travelled a long distance</p> </div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p46d.jpg" alt="" width-obs="500" height-obs="714" /> <p class="caption">113. Low altitude crystal. Usually feathery and light in construction.</p> </div>
<p>The conversion of liquid water through
freezing into a solid crystalline state is
certainly a most interesting process, as
well as a mysterious one. There are many
more difficulties to be encountered by
crystal photographers in the study of ice
formation, and its minute detail, than in
that of either the snow or frost. Still
many instructive and very interesting experiments
have been made and facts
obtained relating to the formation of the
ice, and it has recently been possible to
secure a valuable set of photographs which
are wonderfully interesting, inasmuch as
they serve to show the singular formation
and development of ice crystal structure
from start to finish.</p>
<p>Ice and water are so optically alike, that
the formation of these ice crystals cannot
be clearly detected without the aid of a
microscope. These ethereal ice flowers are
extremely frail and thin, less than one
one-hundredth of an inch in thickness; and
they vary from just a mere microscopic
speck, to one-third of an inch or so in
tabular diameter.</p>
<p>Generally every freezing body of water
contains these beautiful ice crystals; myriads
of tiny transparent ice flowers which
assume distinct types and groups, more or
less symmetrical. In order to watch the
growth and development of these ice crystals
which build up in such quantities on
the surface of pond, river and brook, and
which go, as a whole, to form solid ice,
certain artificial conditions of light are
necessary. These may be simply furnished
by using a small mirror placed in a horizontal
position beneath the surface of the
water which is in process of freezing. Or,
if one wishes to make an interesting study
of the strange phenomena within doors,
it may be quite possible to do so by simply
placing water in a pail, and in the bottom
of the pail, beneath the water, a mirror in
a horizontal position. Of course the water
should be kept in a cold room where it will
freeze, or beneath an open window. The
mirror affords the necessary white background,
and in this manner ice in process of
freezing may be plainly viewed from its
first germ growth to the finished ice crystal.</p>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p47.jpg" alt="" width-obs="500" height-obs="495" /> <p class="caption">114. Having notably elaborate centre</p> </div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p47a.jpg" alt="" width-obs="500" height-obs="672" /> <p class="caption">115. Very elaborate design</p> </div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p47c.jpg" alt="" width-obs="500" height-obs="575" /> <p class="caption">116. The arrow crystal. Six well defined arrows in the design</p> </div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p47d.jpg" alt="" width-obs="500" height-obs="678" /> <p class="caption">117. Low altitude type</p> </div>
<p>The process by which each water molecule,
obedient to the great laws which
govern nature, draws together in countless
numbers to form and build themselves
into countless flower-like ice crystals, which
go to form solid ice is a magical, fascinating
process, well worth watching.</p>
<p>The types of ice crystals differ, however,
upon still surfaces, to those which form
upon running or disturbed water. Still,
such a similarity exists in all ice crystal
formation, and their habits of growth, that
one may get a very clear idea of the process
of their development by observing it in
the simple manner above described.</p>
<p>Their different stages of growth is very
clearly divided into five or six types of
crystalline formation, and they pass from
beginning to end, through the various
stages of development as the nuclear, or
smooth-edged crystal, the scalloped, the
ray-like and the branching stages of growth;
after which they lose their individuality
by becoming solidified and merged into
the solid ice form.</p>
<p>When the ice flowers or crystals first
begin to appear, it is usually upon the
surface of the water, and close to the sides
of the pail. Frequently they push out in
long, delicate, needle- or lance-like forms
while upon the plain edges of these sharp
lances, scallops and delicate serrations
quickly follow. But the individual or
flower type of crystals which grow and
scatter themselves over the surface of the
water, do not attach themselves to any
object, but grow in a detached fashion, and
are really the most interesting crystal for
observation and study. These detached
crystals following out the laws which
govern also the frost and snow crystals
from their first stage of development,
form a simple, smooth-edged disc of very
thin transparent ice, gradually merging
into the same, hexagonal, flower-like pattern,
which governs the frost and snow
crystals, although during the first stages
of their development they show no tendency
to follow hexagonal outlines. The photographed
illustrations showing this type
of ice crystal, from its start to finish were
most of them taken from indoor observation.</p>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p48.jpg" alt="" width-obs="600" height-obs="467" /> <p class="caption">118. High altitude crystal with germs attached</p> </div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p48a.jpg" alt="" width-obs="600" height-obs="516" /> <p class="caption">119. A daintily etched centre design</p> </div>
<p>Beginning with photograph <SPAN href="#pic128">No. 128</SPAN>, we
have the germ or birth, showing the first
stage which the ice crystal assumes in
its formation. It is always seen as a
round disc of very clear, thin ice.</p>
<p><SPAN href="#pic129">No. 129</SPAN> illustrates the second stage of
growth in which the tiny serrations or
scallops are just beginning to shoot out and
form about the germ or disc. Frequently
they remain in this stage of development
for some time without further change,
but when it is zero weather they quickly
increase in growth, and soon begin to show
clearly defined scallops as shown in photograph
<SPAN href="#pic130">No. 130</SPAN>.</p>
<p>In <SPAN href="#pic131">No. 131</SPAN>, the ice crystal has at last begun
to assume definite form, and its hexagonal
shape is more clearly defined; while
in <SPAN href="#pic132">No. 132</SPAN>, we have the completed flower-like
outline, and in Nos. <SPAN href="#pic133">133</SPAN> and <SPAN href="#pic134">134</SPAN> the
finished ice flower with its air inclusions of
light and shade perfected. This shows the
entire process of growth of the commonest
type of these ice crystals, after which
process they lose their identity and merge
into the solid ice film.</p>
<p>However, ice film growth is not wholly
supported in this manner, for branches
often form upon the under side of the ice
film, and grow downward into the water,
as shown in photograph <SPAN href="#pic135">No. 135</SPAN>, which
is a section of ice with fern-like crystal-growth
growing down into the water, thus
aiding in growth and solidification. Each
type of crystal, and there are five, represents
some different characteristic growth—the
long, narrow, needle type, the simple stars
of six points, and the spherical or discoidal
forms; also those resembling coral-like
formations.</p>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p49.jpg" alt="" width-obs="600" height-obs="542" /> <p class="caption">120. Branchy trigonal crystal</p> </div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p49a.jpg" alt="" width-obs="600" height-obs="532" /> <p class="caption">121. An uncommon type</p> </div>
<p>Photograph <SPAN href="#pic136">No. 136</SPAN> shows how individual
ice flowers hamper each other in growth;
that the points reaching out into clear
water grow and draw to themselves with
greater freedom the water molecules, while
the points intruded upon or crowded out
by other crystals or flowers, cease to grow,
and do not interfere with the growth of
others.</p>
<p>Nos. <SPAN href="#pic137">137</SPAN> and <SPAN href="#pic138">138</SPAN> are still other forms of
ice-growth, the needle-like, lance-like form
which we may frequently observe pushing
out from the banks of a small pond or
brook. These needle-like forms of ice
eventually acquire branches about their
entire radius, which grow and merge, with
other ice flowers of different types, into
solid ice upon the surface of the water.</p>
<p><SPAN href="#pic139">No. 139</SPAN> shows this type of ice-crystal
completed. These ice-crystals form and
rise like magic in early winter, especially
upon and around the new ice upon the edges
of small brooks, and streams.</p>
<div class="verse">
<p class="t0">“Sometimes the roof no fretwork knew</p>
<p class="t0">But silvery mosses that downward grew;</p>
<p class="t0">Sometimes it was carved in sharp relief</p>
<p class="t0">With quaint arabesques of ice-fern leaf.”</p>
</div>
<p>Another very interesting example of
ice-growth and formation which we occasionally
discover upon the window-panes,
and which should not be confounded with
the frost work etchings, as it is in reality
a thin transparent ice film, which frequently
assumes exquisite formations and
patterns. In <SPAN href="#pic141">No. 141 <i>a</i></SPAN> the coral-like
branch is a beautiful example of this
window-pane ice, while upon the same
pane of glass in precisely the same temperature
we find another type, as <SPAN href="#pic141b">141 <i>b</i></SPAN> resembling
somewhat the transparent wing
of an insect. There are but two distinct
types of the ice film etchings, and they
are classified as the feather form and the
arborescent types. It is presumed that
the forming of types is largely governed
by the varying thickness of the glass upon
which the ice film is deposited, and to the
presence or absence of minute frozen
particles of ice beneath the film. The
feather form seems to develop upon
cooler positions of the glass, and where
the water film is thinnest.</p>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p50.jpg" alt="" width-obs="500" height-obs="513" /> <p class="caption">122. One of the most elaborate crystals shown. Notable for its very dark centre and the curious detail of its border</p> </div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p50a.jpg" alt="" width-obs="500" height-obs="681" /> <p class="caption">123. A rare design because of its open petal-like formation. Usually such crystals are solid</p> </div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p50c.jpg" alt="" width-obs="500" height-obs="683" /> <p class="caption">124. Very frigid altitude crystal having remarkably etched centre</p> </div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p50d.jpg" alt="" width-obs="500" height-obs="495" /> <p class="caption">125. A snow crystal covered with granular deposit of frost</p> </div>
<p>Nos. <SPAN href="#pic142">142</SPAN>, <SPAN href="#pic143">143</SPAN>, and <SPAN href="#pic144">144</SPAN> are all rare examples
of window ice. No. 16 shows to
perfection a greatly magnified section of
the coral-like tracings in detail. This window-pane
ice, unlike the frost etchings, is
always transparent or opaque water ice.</p>
<p>The ice pictures form in rather an exclusive
fashion, and two types never intrude
upon each other’s territory, although
we often find both types upon one pane
of glass, as shown in the photographed
illustration Nos. <SPAN href="#pic140">140 <i>a</i></SPAN> and <SPAN href="#pic140b">140 <i>b</i></SPAN>.</p>
<p>The ice films always begin to develop
upon the colder portions of the glass first.
Feathery plume-like designs form first upon
shaded portions, and slowly follow the
fading sunlight as it passes from one pane
to another, until the entire window is
often covered with these transparent ice
pictures. During zero weather the feathery
types thicken to an astonishing degree,
more so than the opposite type, or arborescent
ice film.</p>
<p>Another type of ice formation, and an
interesting one, which in the photograph
resembles somewhat a vegetable root or
growth, is a form of ice which develops
and grows upon and under peaty soil.
These singular little ice columns rise as by
magic, and form a miniature forest of tiny
ice columns; frequently raising upon their
tops the soil, stones, etc., to a height of
many inches.</p>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p51.jpg" alt="" width-obs="600" height-obs="443" /> <p class="caption">126. Local storm type</p> </div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p51a.jpg" alt="" width-obs="600" height-obs="447" /> <p class="caption">127. Cold high altitude</p> </div>
<p>Nos. <SPAN href="#pic145">145</SPAN>, <SPAN href="#pic146">146</SPAN> and <SPAN href="#pic147">147</SPAN>, show photographed
examples of this type of columnar
ice, <SPAN href="#pic147">No. 147</SPAN> being a largely magnified
section of one of these tiny columns
in detail. Icicles are another interesting
phenomenon belonging to ice study.
They are evidently produced by the thawing
of snow, and we frequently discover
“freak” icicles hanging pendent from the
house eaves during a thaw. They are, in a
way, one of the many mysteries pertaining,
and to be classed as ice crystallisations, and
are closely related to the wonderful stalactite
formations found in deep caves.</p>
<p>Beautiful beyond powers of description
are the magical, fairy-like scenes which
follow the passing of a great ice-storm.
If you are out of doors just after such a
storm, when the first rays of the sun begin
to shine forth, lighting and touching every
ice-sheathed twig with gold, and before
the ice has begun to melt and fall from the
trees, you can well imagine that you are
catching a fleeting glimpse of fairyland!
Trees that before the storm waved their
leaf-stripped branches, bare and unlovely,
in wailing symphony, tuned by the bleak
wintry blast, have suddenly been clothed
anew and made beautiful for a brief time,
by their silvery coating of ice. Each tiny
twig glitters and scintillates and crackles
beneath the pale wintry sunshine; beautiful
beyond words to picture.</p>
<p>These ice-storms occur more frequently
in January, and are usually followed by
a warm wave. They are seen in all their
beauty in the New England States. Frequently
after such an ice-storm there is a
noticeable swelling and expansion of twigs
and buds; the first suggestion of verdure
and an early spring.</p>
<p>It is intended in this article but to touch
upon the simple structural formation of
the ice. There are still many important
facts to discover, many interesting problems
to solve. It would be interesting
to know why the ice crystals which originate
and have their being in the same body of
water, and under precisely the same conditions
of temperature vary so greatly in
their structural formation.</p>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p52b.jpg" alt="" width-obs="600" height-obs="495" /> <p class="caption">128. Germ or birth of ice crystal</p> </div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p52c.jpg" alt="" width-obs="485" height-obs="500" /> <p class="caption">129. Discoidal ice crystal. Second stage in which crimps begin to appear around the edge of disc</p> </div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p52d.jpg" alt="" width-obs="503" height-obs="500" /> <p class="caption">130. Third stage of development. Scallops well defined</p> </div>
<p>Ice crystallisation in all its branches is
a fascinating and wonderfully instructive
study. It is still in its infancy, there is
much as yet undiscovered material for
experiment awaiting both the student and
the camera specialist.</p>
<div class="verse">
<p class="t0">“Sometimes it was simply smooth and clear</p>
<p class="t0">For the gladness of Heaven to shine through, and here</p>
<p class="t0">He had caught the nodding bulrush tops</p>
<p class="t0">And hung them thickly with diamond drops,</p>
<p class="t0">That crystallised the beams of moon and sun,</p>
<p class="t0">And made a star of every one:</p>
<p class="t0">No mortal builder’s rare device</p>
<p class="t0">Could match this winter-palace of ice.”</p>
<p class="lr">—<span class="sc">Lowell.</span></p>
</div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p52f.jpg" alt="" width-obs="508" height-obs="500" /> <p class="caption">131. Fourth stage, flower-like shape beginning to show</p> </div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p52g.jpg" alt="" width-obs="501" height-obs="496" /> <p class="caption">132. Ice flower completed</p> </div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p52s.jpg" alt="" width-obs="440" height-obs="600" /> <p class="caption">133. Flower-like shape fully formed</p> </div>
<div class="fig"><ANTIMG src="images/p52t.jpg" alt="" width-obs="439" height-obs="600" /> <p class="caption">134. Ice flower beginning to show shadings</p> </div>
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