XO THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



adhere to each other, making those shapeless masses which 



we call large flakes, and which we justly consider a sign 



that the snow will end in rain, as indicating a temperature 



high enough to melt the falling snow. If the air near the 



earth is warmer than that above, the crystals melt as soon 



as they are deposited : if there is any wind, the crystals are 



blown about, and so beaten against each other as to be 



broken into minute fragments, forming small snow, w^hich 



l^ever falls except during wind. They must be received on 



/ a dark substance to display them properly, and even at the 



best, their minuteness, rarely exceeding an eighth of an inch 



I in diameter, is sufficient to cause them to be overlooked by 



1 any eye, but one accustomed to pry into the minutiae of 



I creation. 



C, — How brilliant is their polish, even when highly 

 magnified ; and how perfect and well-defined their outline ! 

 F, — Oh, yes ! the works of God alone will bear a close 

 examination. If we take the most delicate production of hu- 

 man workmanship, and subject its parts to the power of a 

 high magnifier, we shall see that however fair it appeared 

 as a whole, it was composed of ragged and shapeless parts, 

 and that its beauties were only produced by the defective 

 nature of our senses. Look at a fine miniature painting: 

 it is made up of minute dots, which, when magnified, are 

 seen to be uncouth blotches, coarse and without form. But 

 examine the Divine handiwork ; take a minute animal ; a 

 house-fly from the window ; its head appears little more 

 than an atom, yet it contains various organs of sensation as 

 elaborate as ours ; bring one of its eyes beneath a micro- 

 scope, — ^it is composed of a vast multitude of convex lenses, 

 hexagonal in shape, polished, and transparent, and each one 

 endowed with all the parts requisite for perfect and inde- 

 pendent vision. Nothing coarse or shapeless is there ; and 



