M. De la Rive on the Formation of Hail, 28T 



Hence we may conclude that thie line of the hail was accom- 

 panied vvith lateral clouds, which the north wind carried gene- 

 rally to the south. The cloud which carried the hail was at 

 first narrow, it then increased in size, and attained above the 

 department of La Creuse, its greatest width ; it then contract- 

 ed again till it reached the middle of the department of the 

 Puy-du-Dome, in which its extremity, cut in a straight line, 

 presented an edge of half a league in breadth : its shape was 

 that of a spindle, of which each truncated extremity was situated 

 on the one side upon the Ile-d'Oleron, and on the other over 

 Clermont, and the widest part was above La Creuse. In all 

 the more ample accounts I have obtained, it is stated that the 

 colour of the cloud was grey and white ; that its edges revol- 

 ved, that it extended from west to east, and with great rapi- 

 dity, under the enormous cloud which hid the heavens from 

 every eye. The wind also was every where the same, that is 

 to say, there were two currents, the one placed above the 

 other, which crossed each other at right angles, and in the direc- 

 tion of the four cardinal points, or from north to south, and 

 from west to east. 



The intensity of the storm went on, steadily increasing. In 

 La Charente Inferiure the hailstones were small, round, and not 

 very numerous ; their numbers and volume increased in the de- 

 partment of Haute- Vienne, where some of them assumed the 

 oval form ; but it was especially in the department of La Cruese 

 and in the district of Aubusson, that the hailstones attained all 

 their size, and that oval form which they preserved, as far as 

 Clermont ; and their bulk was, to all appearance, very consider- 

 able, for the documents I have received from this department 

 nearly all assign eight and ten ounces to them, and some as much 

 as two and three pounds, so we are safe in concluding, that 

 many of the larger were six or eight ounces. 



It appears that the others were not covered with those long 

 crystals which were found in those which fell at Clermont ; these 

 latter, during their long course, were the only ones which al- 

 lowed the water of the cloud which sustained them to crystallize 

 around them. 



The hail was everywhere of short duration ; it seldom lasted 



u2 



