126 matured 



together with violent winds. They usually 

 occur on a very hot day, and when the air is 

 filled to saturation with moisture. When this 

 is the case a column of air is very highly 

 heated at some point, when it ascends with 

 great force into the upper regions of the at- 

 mosphere to a greater altitude than is com- 

 mon in the case of ordinary thunderstorms. 

 Here it meets with an intensely cold body of 

 air, when it is suddenly condensed and readily 

 frozen as soon as condensed, which not only 

 forms hailstones, but sets free the energy that 

 has been carried up in the moisture globules. 

 This results in frequent electrical discharges, 

 causing great waves of condensed and rarefied 

 air, which, in the rarefied portions, produces 

 still more intense cold; so that we have the 

 conditions for a mighty struggle between the 

 elements, which is intensified by a constant 

 and terrific electric cannonade. Undoubtedly 

 there are also whirlwinds in the cloud, similar 

 to those that sometimes visit the earth, which 

 would tend to gather up the hailstones and 

 aggregate them into large masses. It is a 

 mighty battle between the moisture-laden, 

 superheated air, ascending from the surface of 

 the earth, and the powers residing in the upper 

 regions of cold. Nature is constantly strug- 

 gling to find an equilibrium of her forces, and 

 a hailstorm is only one of the little domestic 

 flurries that take place when she is setting her 



