138 On a singular instance of Crystallization. 



The winter thus far, up to the 15th of February, has been one of 

 unexampled severity since the first settlement of the Ohio company, 

 at Marietta, in the year 1788. The thelrmometer has been for a 

 number of mornings at zero, and once or twice five degrees below, 

 since the 22d of December last. The great snow storm, which 

 seems to have visited the whole length of the United States, com- 

 menced here on Friday the 14th January, 1831, at 4 o'clock, P. M. 

 and continued until Saturday, 1 1 o'clock, A. M. There fell fifteen 

 inches in depth of snow, very level and even over the surface of the 

 earth. A light breeze from the north attended the fall. The weath- 

 er continued cloudy until Tuesday, with occasional light showers of 

 snow. 



February 15th, 1831, 



Art. XIV.- — On a singular instance of Crystallization; by Au- 

 gustus A. Hayes. 



At the extensive drug ware-house of Messrs. Henshaw &; Co. of 

 Boston, after a few weeks of unusually cold weather, a quantity of 

 oil of sassafras was decanted from a canister which had contained a 

 mixture of the oil and water ; there remained at the bottom a solid 

 mass, which was liquefied by heat, thrown into an open tub, and left 

 uncovered, exposed to the temperature of about 40° Fah. twelve or 

 fourteen hours. At this time it was observed that the whole interior 

 of the tub, below the surface of the fluid, was beautifully studded 

 with large transparent crystals, closely resembling those deposited 

 from a saturated saline solution. The fluid was decanted and re- 

 placed by cold water from a well ; covered with this, the crystals 

 remained unaltered, an interesting object of curiosity to numerous 

 observers, for several days. 



Through the kindness of Mr. Henshaw, I was permitted to exam- 

 ine the forms of the crystals, and select from them a number, for the 

 purpose of learning their composition, and observing the circumstan- 

 ces attending their production. The form was that of a hexagonal 

 prism, terminated by low six-sided pyramids, variously modified ; 

 two lateral faces of the prism were sometimes so extended, that a 

 line only marked the others ; the faces of the pyramids were also 

 unequal, and in a few instances, one plane obliterated all traces of 



