SKETCH OF CARL BITTER. 689 



destroyed, and each post was converted into a conductor, down which 

 the electric current passed into the ground. This was especially the 

 case directly the extreme severity of the weather abated and the ice 

 became less dry. But the iron posts had this marked advantage over 

 the wooden ones, that, whereas the latter kept their coating of ice for 

 weeks, these others threw it off directly the sun began to shine. Be- 

 ing black, they absorbed heat more readily, and, by melting the inner 

 surface of the ice, soon caused the whole to crumple up and fall off. 



In conclusion, it remains for us to say a few words as to the effects 

 of this remarkable frost-phenomenon upon the vegetable world. Trees 

 are everywhere scarce in the steppes, their cultivation being attended 

 with very great difficulty ; nor is this to be wondered at when one 

 considers the various climatic influences to which they are subject. 

 During the winter of which we have been speaking, every tree, every 

 branch, every smallest twig was incrusted with ice one, two, or three 

 inches thick ; and accordingly the trees in the town of Kherson, chiefly 

 white acacias, lost nearly all their branches, while many of the smaller 

 ones were completely crushed to the earth. Of the fruit-trees, all of 

 which looked as if they were made of glass, some suffered more, some 

 less, according to the character of their growth. The apple-trees and 

 apricots for instance, with their spreading horizontal branches, were 

 for the most part quite broken down ; while the more erect-growing 

 pear-trees and cherries had maintained their balance better and suf- 

 fered much less in comparison. — Chambers's JournaL 



SKETCH OF GAEL RITTEE. 



CARL RITTER was born at Quedlinbui-g, in Saxony, the birth- 

 place of Klopstock, on the 7th of August, 1779. His father was 

 physician in ordinary to the Abbess of the convent in that place, and 

 was a man of noble character and gentle disposition who was held in 

 high esteem by his fellow citizens. He died in the prime of life and 

 left his widow destitute, with five children, Carl being then five years 

 old. The helpless situation of the widow, a well-born, refined woman,, 

 awakened general sympathy. Salzmann, who was about establishing 

 a school for young children in Schnepfenthal, heard of it and deter- 

 mined to adopt Carl as a gratuitous pupil and as his first scholar. 

 Carl found this a second home, and remained at the school eleven 

 years, or until it was time for him to go to the university. It was in 

 this lovely Thuringian town that, looking upon the manifold shapes 

 of mountain and plain, wood and field, he received his first impres- 

 sions of the relations which exist between the configuration of the 

 VOL. XVI. — 44 



