26 
THE 
CANADIAN 
NATURALIST. 
the very great beauty which is shown in the forms of flakes 
of snow : a beauty and regularity that is as Httle seen or sus- 
pected by people in general, as if it had no existence. Take 
this pocket magnifier, and examine with it some of those on 
your sleeve. 
C. — They are elegant and beautiful indeed : thin and 
flat stars of transparent crystal, resembling in beauty and 
variety of shape the forms produced by the kaleidoscope. 
Scarcely two are found agreeing in shape. 
F. — Can you find no point in which they all agree ? 
C. — On closer examination, I perceive that all have 
exactly six rays or points, and no more. 
F. — That circumstance reveals the secret of their regu- 
larity : all crystallizing substances shoot out needles or points 
at a certain definite angle ; which never varies in the same 
substances, but has an almost infinite variety in different 
substances. This is called the angle of crystallization : in 
the freezing of water, this angle is one of sixty degrees, 
exactly a sixth part of a circle : whatever part of a flake of 
snow we examine, however complex it may be, we shall 
always find the needle forming with the line from which it 
shoots, an angle of 60°. We sometimes find fragments of 
stars, but if there are two rays still attached, they bear this 
unvarying relation to each other. 
C, — It would be a pleasing amusement to observe and 
delineate the various forms of the flakes. 
F. — It is attended with difficulty : only in the open air 
can they be examined ; for so frail is their nature, that the 
slightest elevation of temperature above the freezing point 
instantly destroys them. Even out of doors, unless the wea- 
ther be very cold, the close proximity to the eye to which 
they must be brought for microscopic examination is suffi- 
cient to obliterate their form ; and the open air, at a tempera- 
ture far below freezing, during a snow-storm, is by no means 
