126 BLIZZARDS. 



"the cathedrals, town hall, barracks, etc., had all been 

 turned into hospitals. " * The loss of life in this storm, 

 for instance, was actually more than t\vice as great 

 as that of the allied British and French armies at 

 the battle of Inkerman, and the number of wounded 

 was also considerably greater, though this was one 

 of the fiercest battles fought during the present 

 century, f 



The "Blizzard," or gale attended with intense cold, 

 is another description of storm which deserves at least 

 a passing notice before we close this branch of our 

 subject. These storms are very common throughout 

 the plains regions, in the interior of North America 

 and other great continents, during the winter season ; 

 and frequently come on quite suddenly, during a spell of 

 otherwise fine and mild weather ; and although the wind 

 does not blow with the extreme violence which charac- 

 terizes the cyclonic disturbances of tropical climates 

 in summer and autumn, they often occasion intense 

 suffering and much loss of life, both amongst men 

 and animals. At the first indication of the coming of 

 one of these storms in wild regions, the plains animals 

 and birds fly before the icy blast and seek refuge in 

 the ravines and coverts whilst man himself, and the 

 domestic animals, caught out upon the open plain 

 away from the neighbourhood of shelter, in a really 

 bad storm of this kind, are very apt to be frozen to 

 death or at least to sustain severe mutilations, such 

 as loss of hands or feet, by frostbite. The losses of 



* Times of June 3, 1892. 



f Haydn's Dictionary of Dates and Universal Information states 

 that "The loss of the allies was 462 killed, 1952 wounded, and 191 

 missing " (see Article " Inkerman "). 



