SNOW-FLOWEES AND ICE- CRYSTALS. 109 



inquiring eye of the student of Nature, is ex- 

 quisitely fashioned. To the careless observer of 

 a snow-storm, or of a hoar-frost, nothing but 

 white, and to him shapeless, particles are falling. 

 Yet every particle is a crystal of definite shape, 

 and, various as these shapes are, they all have 

 one feature in common, for each is divided into 

 six parts, each part proportioned with wonderful 

 symmetry to each. Six-sided spires, each with 

 six angles; six-sided pyramids, and six-pointed 

 stars of varying points, some angular, some 

 rounded. The^shapes, indeed, are multitudinous, 

 but the parts of each are exquisitely proportioned, 

 and all are placed in exactly the same relation to 

 each other. Of all sizes, they are some single, 

 some double ; but, whether single or double, the 

 parts forming the additions which make up the 

 difference of size are all added in exactly the 

 same proportion. 



A snow-flake ! What is that, some reader may 

 exclaim, but a tiny portion, shapeless and unin- 

 teresting, of snow ? It is not so, however. A 

 snow-flake is. a fabric of exquisite beauty, con- 

 sisting, it maybe, of one or two snow-crystals, 



