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transition from rain to hail was sharp and well defined; 
that from hail to rain as gradual as the change of " a 
dissolving view." The storm ceased at eighteen minutes 
past one o'clock, and so large a quantity of water had 
fallen that in the field adjoining the one in which I sheltered, 
potatoes were as flat as if a roller had passed over them, the 
surface of the ground between the ridges appeared to be 
puddled, and in some places the water stood several inches 
deep. Upon approaching the town it was apparent that the 
storm had assumed a widely different character at a very 
short distance. Four fields off my place of shelter, the corn 
was hardly injured. Three or four fields further, and pota- 
toes showed no sign of anything more than an ordinary 
shower; and upon inquiry, I was informed by several in- 
telligent persons that not one single hailstone had been seen, 
and that they had experienced nothing but ordinarily heavy 
rain, thunder, and lightning. I heard, however, that some 
hail fell at a place about half a mile to the N.E., but could 
not learn that it was particularly violent. The altered ap- 
pearance of the clouds in the N.E., led me to think that the 
violence of the storm was spent in passing. 
The hailstones which fell were of three kinds : — 
1. Solid balls of ice having two or three small bubbles, 
or one larger one, containing air. 
2. Balls of which from half to two-thirds were solid ice, the 
remainder being water and air enclosed in a crust of ice. 
3. Balls formed by an outer crust of ice containing water* 
and air. In some instances this icy crust was so thin 
as to be broken by the fall, (though all I examined 
fell upon straw,) while in others it bore considerable 
pressure before it broke. 
* The fluid in these balls is called water, because I had no means of collecting 
the hail for analysis. Otherwise, no doubt, Nitric Acid, and, probably, other 
compounds might have been found. 
