Abstract
In order to see under a microscope the fine net-works of ice composing the deposited snow, the.authors developed a technique by which a section as thin as a few tenths of a millimeter could be cut out of a block of snow. The block was immersed at -5°C-10°C in liquid aniline (C6H5·NH2) previously saturated with water. The liquid penetrated quickly into the block to fill the spaces in the ice net-work driving out the air. The block was then cooled down to below -20°C; the liquid aniline solidified making the block of snow so rigid that it could be cut with a carpenter's saw or plane without being deformed or destroyed. By the use of a well sharpened plane the block could be thinned down to a thickness of 0.1mm. The spaces in the ice net-work of the thin section made in this way were filled with solidified aniline which was opaque. The photograph in Fig. 3 shows the section in this state of opaque aniline. When the solidified aniline was melted by being warmed up to -10°C-5°C, it became transparent with the result that the whole structure of the ice net-works could be seen as illustrated in the photographs of Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7.
