THE LONDON FOG. 79 
but when the sun was an hour or two in the heavens the mist 
began to melt away. It remained longest over the river, and 1 
was occasionally in a thick cloud on the bank of the Angara when 
the atmosphere a hundred yards away was perfectly clear. The 
moisture congealed on every stationary object. Houses and fences 
were cased in ice, its thickness varying with the condition of the 
weather. Trees and bushes became masses of crystals, and glis- 
tened in the sunlight as if formed of diamonds. I could never 
wholly rid myself of the impression that some of the trees were 
fountains caught and frozen when in full action. The’ frost played 
curious tricks of artistic skill, and its delineations were sometimes 
r 
after a period of severe cold. The red granite columns of St. 
Isaac’s church are apparently transformed into spotless marble by 
the congelation of moisture on their surface. In the same manner 
Thave seen a gray wall at Irkutsk changed in a night and morning 
to a dazzling whiteness. The crystalline formation of ‘the frost 
had all the varieties of the kaleidoscope without its colors.” 
Lest some Yankee, whose study of Latin has not robbed him of 
his birth-right utilitarianism, should ask of the London fog, cui 
bono ?, I will quote in conclusion, a pleasing little speculation of 
Howard, which may serve as an answer in some sort. Thomas 
Hughes remarks that he considers the power and glory of England 
to be due in no small degree to the prominence and virtues of the 
family of “ Brown.” Our meteorologist seeks to explain one way 
in which those same “ Browns” are developed, and traces the con- 
nection between that illustrious family and a London fog (and 
other forms of moisture) thus :— aks 
“ Since man includes in his composition the elements of the 
inferior natures, and among these the vegetable, it is probable that 
the very growth of our bodies may so depend on moisture, that it 
could not go on in air of a certain degree of dryness. It is at 
least plain, that mankind is of a larger growth in rainy countries 
_ (whether these be warm or cold) than in those that are subject for 
a great part of the year to the dry extreme. In like manner, and 
from like causes, in part, we see that the inhabitants of crowded 
cities, and manufacturing towns, arrive at a less growth than those 
in even worse circumstances, as to diet and clothing, in the coun- 
try; the latter being so much more exposed, in childhood and 
during adolescence, to the weather.” 
