374 ^^' Franklin's Aleteorologlcal 



ice, that ice defcends. In defcending, both the 

 drop of water, and the grain of ice, are aug- 

 mented by particles of the vapour they pafs 

 through in falling, and which they condenfe by 

 their coldnefs, and attach to themfelves. 



It is pofTible that, in fummer, much of what 

 is rain, when it arrives at the furface of the earth, 

 might have been fnow, when it began its defcent j 

 but being thawed, in pafTing through the warm 

 air near the furface, it is changed from fnow 

 into rain. 



How immenfely cold mud be the original 

 particle of hail, which forms the center of the 

 future hailftone, fince it is capable of commu- 

 nicating fufficient cold, if I may fo fpeak, to 

 freeze all the mafs of vapour condenfed round 

 it, and form a lump of perhaps fix or eight 

 ounces in weight! 



When, in fummer time, the fun is high, and 

 continues long every day above the horizon, his 

 rays ftrike the earth more direilly, and with longer 

 continuance, than in the winter; hence, the fur- 

 face is more heated, and to a greater depth, by 

 the effect of thofe rays. 



When rain falls on the heated earth, and foaks 

 down into it, it carries down with it a great 

 part of the heat, which by that means defcends 

 ftill deeper. 



The mafs of earth, to the depth perhaps of 

 thirty feet, being thus heated to a certain degree, 



continues 



