INSTANTANEOUS FREEZING.
During frosty weather, let a vessel be half filled with water, cover it closely, and place it in the open air, in a situation where it will not experience any commotion: it will thereby frequently acquire a degree of cold more intense than that of ice, without being frozen. If the vessel, however, be agitated ever so little, or receive even a slight blow, the water will immediately freeze with singular rapidity. The cause of this phenomenon is, that water does not congeal unless its particles unite together, and assume among themselves a new arrangement. The colder the water becomes, the nearer its particles approach each other; and the fluid which keeps it in fusion gradually escapes; but the shaking of the vessel destroys the equilibrium, and the particles fall one upon another, uniting in a mass of ice.
Or, provide a glass full of cold water, and let fall on its surface a few drops of sulphuret of carbon, which will instantly become covered with icy network: feathery branches will then dart from the sulphuret, the whole contents of the glass will become solidified, and the globules will exhibit all the colours of the rainbow.