28 



Notices of Memoirs — Remarkable Hailstones. 



in their character of the drusy crystals of calcite from Andreasberg, 

 can be reconciled with the violent atmospheric commotion which we 

 suppose to accompany the formation of hail. We say in naturd nihil 

 fit per saltus, and I believe it. The growing crystalline mass must 

 have been suspended for a long time in a very cold stratum of 

 aqueous vapour before it reached the earth. 



[The two subjoined cuts are copied as closely as possible from the 

 original drawings.] 



I would only add, 

 by way of a hint, to 

 explain what cannot 

 be shown by such im- 

 perfect drawings, that 

 where the flat sphe- 

 roidal forms, resem- 

 bling specular iron, in 

 the centre of the draw- 

 ing, exhibit shading, 

 the crystals were not 

 always opaque. The 

 ring surrounding the 

 nucleus had a milky 

 appearance, owing to 

 small air bub- 

 bles, as had the 

 nucleus itself in 

 most instances. 

 Many of them, 

 however, had a 

 clear nucleus. 

 This could easily 

 be seen next 

 morning, when 

 the stones had 

 all melted down 

 to cakes of about 

 an inch in dia- 

 meter, occasion- 

 ally taking the 

 shape of a re- 

 gular hexagon. 



The milky ring round the central point was clearly distinguishable 

 as a sort of fibrous web composed of the finest air cavities traversed 

 by threadlike pores. In some cases there was no ring, and the 

 nucleus was semi-opaque. 



The shading round the border of the large circle is only intended 

 to mark the smooth spheroidal form of the central mass. The 

 actual crystals were attached parasitically to its edge, or else inserted 

 in a sort of socket, as I found when the stones thawed down. 

 (See o, Fig. 1.) 



Actual representations (of the natural size) of two of the HaiLstones 

 •which fell in Georgia on the 9th June, 1869, drawn at the time by 

 Staatsrath Abioh. 



