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fall to the ground in the form of bail, hence the rea- 

 son appears, why snow, which is only frozen mist, is 

 lighter than either rain or hail. 



But why is snow, though it seems to be soft, truly 

 hard ? Because it is true ice, It seems soft, because at 

 the first touch of the finger on its sharp edges or points, 

 they melt ; otherwise they would pierce the finger, just 

 as so many lancets., 



But why, though it be true ice, which is a hard and 

 dense body, is it so very light 1 Because of the extreme 

 thinness of each circle, IH comparison of its bteadth. So 

 gold, the most ponderous of all bodies, when beaten into 

 leaves, rides upon the air. 



Why is lit white ? Because its parts, though singly^ 

 transparent, yet must appear white, when mixed together: 

 as do the parts of froth, of powdered glass, and other 

 transparent bodies, whether soft or hard. 



You will see snow of a -peculiar kind, if you try the 

 following experiment. Set a tall phial of aquafortis by 

 the fire, till it is warm. Then put in filings of pure sil- 

 ver, a few at a time, and after a brisk ebullition, the sil- 

 ver slowly dissolves. Place this in a cold window. As 

 it cools, the silver particles shoot into crystals, several of 

 which running together, form a flake of snow, and de- 

 scend to the bottom of the phial. While they are de- 

 scending, they perfectly represent a shower of silver 

 snow. And the ilakes lie upon one another at the bot- 

 tom, like real snow upoaihe ground. 



Many particles of snow are of a regular figure, like 

 rowels, or stars of six points. On each of these points, 

 are other collateral stars, but many of the points are 

 broken; others have been thawed, and are froze again 

 into irregular clusters. All these are perfect ice, so that 

 the whole of snow is an infinite number of icicles. A 

 cloud of vapours condensing, fotthwith descends, till 

 meeting with a freezing air, each drop immediately be- 

 comes an icicle, shooting itself into several points. These 

 H 6 



