Page:Journal of a Voyage to Greenland, in the Year 1821.djvu/215

Rh those objects which I had so long looked upon with unceasing delight, were now, from the loss of their modest clothing, offensive to the eye.

The ship being nearly at rest, Captain Scoresby made some curious experiments to exhibit the effect of the pressure of the water, at given depths, in the following manner: a glass quart bottle was closely stopped with a piece of very dry close-grained wood, about three inches in length, and extremely buoyant; the bottle was then weighed with the greatest exactness, and by means of a deep sea lead, it was lowered 250 yards into the sea; after remaining down some time it was hauled up, and it was found that the pressure of the water upon the stopper, had forced that fluid through the pores of the wood, and that the bottle had received two ounces of sea-water. The bottle was in a like manner prepared for a second experiment, and lowered to the depth of 1,000 yards, but the immense pressure of the volume of water at that depth had broken the bottle. The wooden stopper was next examined; it had not only lost its original buoyancy, but acquired a ponderous nature; it sank like a stone, and was found to have increased by one half of its original weight; on splitting it, the pores shewed that they had all been conductors of the fluid. To extend this interesting experiment, I furnished Captain Scoresby with a strong oblong copper vessel, in the mouth of which a long piece of wood was securely screwed, so as to prevent a possibility of any water entering; and it was