UTILITY OF SNO W. 3 7 



light, and singularly illuminates the darkness of the winter 

 nights. The long dreary nights of the polar world are lit up 

 by the glories of the magnetic auroras, joined to the radiancy of 

 the snow. This induces us to repeat a question which we have 

 often addressed to ourselves, namely, under what aspect 

 must the very varied changes which the solar light experiences 

 on the surface of our planet be presented to the inhabitants 

 of Mars and Venus? A more attentive observation of the 

 ashen-gray light of the moon, which appears to be principally 

 produced by the reflection of the more or less luminous face 

 of the earth, may perhaps one day provide us with an answer 

 to our question. 



Before quitting this subject, let us remember that both snow 

 and frost are of great utility to the husbandman. The latter, 

 by expanding the humidity with which the hard clods are 

 penetrated, crumbles them into powder, and renders stiff land 

 porous, friable, and mellow. It also clears the soil from the 

 plague of insect life, which, if it increased without so powerful 

 a check, would probably prove a terrible injury to the crops. 

 Moreover, it so hardens in winter the moist soft ground as to 

 permit of the necessary field operations being carried on. 

 Snow, as Dr Child remarks,* is even more useful. It covers 

 up the tender plants with a thick mantle, which defends them 

 against the attacks of excessive cold. " God giveth snow like 

 wool," and for somewhat the same purposes as wool. The 

 mantle which so closely wraps about the gaunt limbs of the 

 winter-stricken earth neither allows the internal heat to escape 

 * Chaplin Child, "Beredici," p. 171. 



