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Professor Olnsted?s Reply to Dr. Christie. 375 
the tops of the tents. On the hail falling, the air eenahd en a sudden 
disagreeably cold, as it had been before oppressively hot. The same 
gentleman also witnessed a-hailstorm at Masalapatam, on the eoast of 
Coromandel, in 1822 (he thinks in the month of Ars ; and sii 
at different times, in various parts of India. 
We are told by Heyne, in‘ his historical and ‘atistical tracts on 
India, that “masses of hail of immense size are said to have fallen 
~ from the clouds, at different periods,” in the Mysore country; and 
that “in the latter part-of Tippoo Sultan’s reign, it is on record, and 
well authenticated, that a piece fell near Seringapatam of the size of 
an elephant.” Of course, it is not to be expected that we are to be- 
“ lieve this to the letter—we must make some ‘allowance for oriental 
exaggeration. 
« It is needless to aviitigy: cities for 1 believe there is not an 
officer who has been many years in India, who cannot bear testimony 
to the ‘frequency of hailstorms in that country. Professor Olmsted’s 
‘theory, therefore, even according to his own account of it, must be 
abandoned ; or, at all events, it will only apply to those falls of hail - 
which occur in the temperate zones. 
Remarks. —That these facts are not inconsistent with my * theory 
of hailstorms” will, I think, appear evident, by placing side by side 
- my leading ace and one ne the most sein facts the Doctor 
* has mentione . 
Proposition. ’ Fact mentioned by Dr. c. 
Hailstorms are caused by the | The weather [previous to a 
congelation of the watery vapor | violent hailstorm] had been very 
of a bady of warm and humid | sultry, with hot blasts of wind, 
air, by its suddenly mixing with | and heavy clouds, which appear- 
an exceedingly cold wind, in the | ed almost to touch the tops of 
higher regions of the atmosphere. | the tents. On the hail falling, 
the air became on a sudden, as 
disagreeably cold, as it had been 
before oppressively hot. 
‘This fact is so much to my purpose, that had I met with it in sea- 
) 
son, I should undoubtedly have annexed it to those offered in support 
of my views. The hot sultry blasts that preceded, and the cold weath- 
er that followed the storm, implies the meeting of just such elements 
as the theory demands. It has been suggested, indeed, that the cold 
that ensues is caused by the hail itself; but this does not account, like 
the other supposition, for the formation of the hail, and moreover 
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