But it could not be the same thing in reality, for, as far as I understand the phenomenon of ground-ice, some disturbed motion of the water is necessary, to drive down below the surface the cold particles of water, which become ice the moment they strike upon any solid substance shaped like fractured stone;[75] the specific gravity of freezing water being so much less than that of water at a somewhat higher temperature, that without some disturbing cause it would not sink to the bottom.[76] So that it seems probable that the ice at the bottom of the lake was the remains of a solid mass, of which the greater part had been converted into water by some warm influence or other.

We noticed that a little water trickled down among the stones which formed the slope of descent into the lowest gallery, so that perhaps the lake was a collection of water from all parts of the various ramifications of the fissure.

Whence came the icy wind, it is impossible to say, without further exploration.

It was satisfactory to me to find that the 'cold current' of the Genevese _savans_ was thus associated with water, and not with ice, in the only cave in which I had detected its presence to any appreciable extent, the currents of the Glaciere of Monthezy being of a totally different description.
When we reached the final rock, in ascending, I offered Rosset the promised back, but he got up well enough without it.

Before leaving the entrance-cave, we inspected the thermometer which we had left to test the temperature of the current of air, and, to my surprise, found it standing at 48 deg..