300 THE CHEMISTRY OF CREATION. 



sionally been picked up in the Orkneys. Fable 

 tells that there once fell near Seringapatam a 

 hailstone as large as an elephant ! At a late 

 meeting of the British Association, Dr. Robinson 

 stated, that an instance was on record of a mass 

 of ice having fallen from the air, fifteen feet 

 across ! It has been calculated that the rapidity 

 with which hailstones of a large size fall, equals 

 fifty miles an hour, their destructive force being 

 correspondingly great. The mischief done by 

 hail at times can scarcely be estimated. Many 

 thousands of pounds would not cover the damage 

 of the tremendous hailstorm of 1846 ; and in 

 vine countries their ruinous effects are felt still 

 more severely. Seasons are on record when the 

 whole vintage of large domains in Southern 

 France, and elsewhere, have been annihilated. 

 On the 14th of January, 1849, at a certain town 

 in the Deccan in India, there was a hailstorm, 

 during which some of the stones were from two 

 to two and a half inches diameter, and weighed 

 from 'one to two ounces each. Hailstones pre- 

 sent various crystalline appearances on exami- 

 nation. A hailstorm is frequently accompanied 

 by violent electrical phenomena. 



Snow is formed under circumstances corre- 

 sponding to those accompanying the formation 

 of rain, but instead of condensing into drops, 

 it crystallizes from a previously vaporous 



