Influence of Snow and Rain on ] '{gelation. 2]^ 

 toad, and to prevent the air from penetrating to it : or 

 only might at firft be put into the ftone. It would, how- 

 ever, be attended with moll advantage if feveral experiments 

 were made at the fame time, in order that the ftatc of the 

 animals might be examined at different periods. Such ex- 

 periments, and careful obfervation of the nature and economy 

 of thefe animals, could alone lead to any certain conclusion 

 reflecting a circumstance fo abltrufe, which, at prefcni, 

 feems to furpafs the powers of our comprehenfion. 



II. Ohfervations on S/iozu and Raw. ; their Influence on Je- 

 getatiun, and their Combination with Oxygen. Bj J. H. 

 Hassenfratz.' From Journal de L'Kcole Polytech- 

 nique, P. L>\ 



./~\l,L thofe who inhabit parts of the earth expofed t<\ 

 mow, agree in confulering this meteor as one of the means 

 employed by nature to give to plants more ftrength, and to 

 make them expand with more vigour. Several even are 

 perfuaded that winters which produce no mow preface a bad 

 harveft and a feeble ftate of vegetation; and thev afcribe its 

 influence to the falts which they fav exift in that congealed 

 water. Snow collected in large maffes, melted and evapo- 

 rated in earthen veffels, having left no refiduum, has made 

 this fuppofition be confidered as a mere chimera; and, in 

 confe(pience of reafoning carried too far, fome have been in- 

 duced to deny that fnow has any influence at all on vege- 

 tation. 



In phenomena transmitted through fucceffive generations, 

 we mu ft diftinguifh the refults of obfervation from the ex- 

 planations fome have attempted to give of them. There are 

 phenomena, indeed, the whole of which prefent themfelves 

 to our fenfes in their full force, and which can leave no 

 doubt in the mind of the lead attentive obferver; but there 

 arc others which exhibit only a few traces that cannot be 



dif- 



