SECTION SECOND. 



THEORY CONFIRMED BY AN EXHIBITION OF ITS POWER IN EXPLAIN- 

 ING PHENOMENA. 



69. POUILLET has given an account of a hail storm which 

 extended from the Pyrenees to the Baltic, on the 13th of July, 

 1788, in two bands, parallel to each other, about fifteen miles 

 apart, in which space there was a great rain. The eastern 

 band was, at a mean, about six or seven miles broad, and the 

 western band about twelve miles. The rain, however, was 

 on the outside of these bands of hail, as well as between 

 them. The progress of the storm from the south west to 

 the north east was about fifty miles per hour, and the hail 

 continued to fall not more than eight minutes at any one 

 place, yet the devastation was immense, the largest of the 

 hailstones being about eight ounces. 



If I had made this storm myself, it would be said that 

 I had made it to illustrate my theory. For it is mani- 

 fest that the outspreading of the air above, will, in many 

 cases, carry with it the hailstones, and those which are 

 least the farthest, and these smaller hailstones, on the 

 outside of the bands, will melt before they reach the earth, 

 while the larger hailstones, falling more swiftly, and having 

 more ice to melt, may reach the earth in the form of hail. 

 Thus the two veins of hail, and the rain on the outside of 

 them, are manifestly accounted for ; it is not quite so plain 

 why it should only rain in the middle. Nevertheless, if 



