ICONOGRAPHIC ENCYCLOPADIA SCIENCE, LITERATURE, AND ART. SYSTEMATICALLY ARRANGED ay J. G. HECK. TRANSLATED FROW THE GrRMAN, WITH ADDITIONS, Axo EDITED By SPENCER F. BAIRD, A.M, M.D. YROPESSOK OF NATURAL SCLENCKS IN DICKINSON COLLEGE, CARLISLE, PAs ILLUSTRATED BY FIVE MUNDRED STEEL PLATES, CONFAINING UPWARDS OF TWELVE THOUSAND ENGRAVINGS. IN FOUR VOLUMES, VOL. I: MATITEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY, VHYSICS AND METES +Y, CHEMISTRY, MINERALOGY, Gr ys¥ AND GEOLOGY, NEW YORK: 1851. RUDOLPH GARR PUBLISHER, 2 MARCLAY STREET (AMTOR HOUSED,222 PHYSICS, In Germany, and other countries nearly of the same latitude, snow gene- rally falls in a quiet atmosphere; sometimes, however, and particularly in February, the falling of snow is accompanied by tempestuous weather. ‘The wind in such cases frequently passes during the storm from west or south- west to north, and after the fall, cold weather with a clear sky sets in. On high mountains, and in mountainous regions, the falling of snow is often accompanied by winds which are not far behind the most violent storms in intensity, hence they are called snow storms, ‘The snow storms of the Alps, so dangerous to travellers, are well known to all. At higher latitudes these storms occur at # less elevation, particularly in Norway and Kamtschatka, where they are called Purga, That such snow storms ought to be ranked with thunder storins is shown by the electrical condition of the atmosphere, and by the Schtuing whic arely accompanies them, The quantity of snow deposited differs with the year and country, being very variable for slight elevations above the level of the More snow falls in valleys and woody districts than in the level land. The snow increases from the isothermal of 59°F. in the north, to the isothermal of 41°F, which passes by Drontheim; it then diminishes, since in the high northern latitudes the sir is too cold to contain much moisture. The quanity of water which may be obtained by melting snow differs greatly at times. During severe cold and northern or north-eastern winds, the snow is very loose and balls to: h great difficulty, indicating the existence of little water. In general, the snow is lighter the more there is to be of it; hence the proverb, “much snow little water, little snow much water,” is well founded. According to De La Hire, water is 3}—12 times denser than sno to Celsius, 2{—11 times ; according to Van Swinden, 5|—i9; according to the more recent investigations of Quetelet, In general, the density of snow may be assumed at $— Freshly fallen snow is always the lightest, gradualiy becoming firmer by its own pressure, and finally acquiring an iey crust by the melting of the super- ficial layers and subsequent freezing of the water. A considerable and quite appreciable diminution in the amonnt-of snow on a given surface may be observed after it has lain a good while in a dry atmosphere. It is welll Known that snow, by its badly conducting power, acts as a preventive to the direfuul influences of the freezing of the ground. Snow water is generally pure, being only exceptionally mixed with foreign ingredients, for which reason it is of no especial use to vegetation, being rather prejudicial on account of the coldness. The beautiful red color of snow first observed by Saussure (1760) in the Alps, owes its redness tominute alge (Protocaccus nivalis). Green snow is eaused by Protocnceus viridis. herw ¢; accordi Of Muit. one of the most peculiar phenomena in meteorology, is divisible into two principal classes: Ist. S/eel, composed of round granules, generally 396METEOROLOGY. 223 not more than two and a half lines in thickness, always opake, and of snow-white color, occurring in wintery weather. 2d. Hail, properly so called, consisting of granules of spherical, paraboloidal, or pyriform shape, varying in size from a cherry-stone to a walnut. These have geuerally a point, opposite to which is a bemispherical segment, aud in their centre is an opake nucleus of one half to two lines in diameter. This species occurs generally in summer, in connexion with thunder and lightuing. The two kinds, however, aceording to Kaemtz, differ only in size. As a third and very rare species Arago considers those granules which novor have a nucleus of snow, and difler from sleet of equal size by being tvansparent. These are unquestionably produced by the freezing of drops of rain in falling from a cloud into a stratum of colder air. The form of true hailstones is very various ; generally they are rounded, sometimes flattened or angular. Deleross supposes the most common form to be a three-sided spherical segment, produced by the shattering of larger spheres. Hailstunes of different forms are represented in pl. 23, figs. 24-35. The internal structure is almost as various as the form, sometimes alter- nations of transparent and opake strata ave observed. The diameter of simple hailstones at a mean latitude, according to Muncke, is not over one and a half or one and three fourths inches, larger masses appearing to be produced by the aggregation of individual st Instances of hailstones, the size of or larger, are not rare in some parts of the world. There are cases on record of vastly larger hailstones than those just mentioned ; most of these, however, are of a very fabulous character. Thus in 1719 ailstones fell at Kremo weighing six pounds, and at Namur, in 1717, hing eight pounds. According to Wallace, pieces of ice a fout thick fell in the Orkney Islands in 1680; in 1795 pieces of ice, six to eight inches long, and two fiigers thick, fell in New Holland. According to public prints, a lump of ice fell in Hangary on the 28th of May, 1802, three feet long, three feet broad, and two feet thick, estimated to weigh 1100Ibs, In the latter part of the reign of Tippoo Saib, a lump of ice the size of an elephant fell near Scringapatam. Iu. all these cases the mass of ice most probably consisted of an aggregation of single lumps frozen together on the ground. It is only rarely that foreign substances have been found in hail- stones, In 1755 these fell in Iceland containing sand and volcanic ashes; in Ireland, in 1821, bail with a metallic nucleus, recognised as sulphuret of iron ; in 1824, in Siberia, hail containing octahedrous resembling auriferous pyrites. According to the earlier observations, small p are often found in hail. Hail generally falls during the day, although the idea that it never falls y night is erroneous, there being well authenticated Iv is very probable that the rarity of night hail and owing to the greater difficulty of observing such phen: darkness. It has already been mentioned that the sn hailstones generally full in spring vin April, during that condition of the weather kuown as April weather. ces of ses to the contr hort showers of cold rain then allernate with warm sunshine, and with the rain there full either single hail 307224 PHYSICS. or the shower begins with single rain-drops followed by hail, the whole again concluding with rain. This alternation sometimes occurs in May and June, rarely in July, and perhaps never in August and September. Not unfrequently sleety hail is mixed with snow, either at the beginning. or more frequently towards the end of winter, in February or March. Fine granular hail frequently oceurs on high mountains, where regular hailstones seldom are seen ; thus on the higher Alps Saussure found twelve falls of the former to one of the latter. ‘The real hail storms belong to the summer season, and are accompanied by the severest thunder and lightning. They are therefore most frequent in June and July, rarer in May, August, and September, and seldom experienced in April and October. Storms of this kind generally arise afier clear calm weather, accompaujed by long continued oppressive sultriness. The hail clouds appear to sweep very low, with their edges jazzed, and their lower faccs presenting irregular projections, the parts yielding hail generally forming remarkable white streaks, the rest of the cloud being very dark. The barometer and the thermometer sink rapidly, the latter sone- times as much as 77° °. A peculiar rustling in the air announces near and heavy hail clouds ; subsequently a darkness ensues not dissimilar to that produced by an eclipse of the sun. The hail itself Jasts but a few minutes, with short interruptions, and generally accompanied by thunder and lightning, the duration being rarely over fifteen minutes, which, however, is often sufficient to cover the ground with a thick bed of ice. Hail storms move with great velocity; the one which occurred in France in 1788, so remarkable for its great extent, traversed the country at the rate of 38.8 Paris feet in a second, or forty geographical miles in an hour. The furce with which the hail falls is very great, and, indeed, greater as the wind is more violent. Men are not seldom injured and even killed, a calamit which occurs quite frequently to small animals, Window-glass is very often broken, and even the roofs of houses and the branches of trees are at times unable to resist the terrible visitation. The injury produced in fields, gardens, &c., is often almost irreparable, as in the storm of 1788 in France, which devastated 1039 parishes, and caused a loss to the amount of more than twenty-five millions of franes. The quantity of hail which falls is rarely measurable with any degree of exactness, owing to the rapid melting produced by the accompanying rain, and the more elevated temperature of the air or ground. A depth of six inches is sometimes attained, althouch this very rarely occurs, at least in our latitude. A torrent of rain generally follows a fall of hail, lasting rarely more than half an hour. The area traversed by the hail is generally but small in width, often but a few hundred or thousand feet, rarely over a mile; the length of this area, again, is sometimes very great, amounting to over 400 miles in the storm just mentioned. In the tropics hail rarely occurs excepting at great elevations ; in the far north, again, large hail is very seldom seen. In general the tract of hail proper is confined to the region between 30° and 60° degrees of latitude, and to elevations under 6000 feet. Even within these limits there are 898METEOROLOGY. 228 countries where hail seldom or never occurs, as in some valleys of Switzer- land, especially in the Valais, and in most of the valleys extending east and west. In the low lands at the foot of high mountains, hail is more abundant at a certain distance from the mountain than nearer or more remote. The same region is sometimes ravaged by hail storms for several years in succession, and afterwards again spared for a considerable time. From the comparisons of Kaemtz, who assumes but one kind of hail, there occur in France every year from ten to twenty hail storms (the most in spring, the fewest in summer), over five in Germany, five in Rome, and three in the interior of Europe. Of the many propositions for preventing hail by the use of hail conductors none have yielded any practical results. The methods suggested may exert their influence in three ways: either by drawing off the electricity, by mechanical agitation of the strata, or by a chemically decomposing influence on the composition of the atmosphere. Hail conductors, or rods. of the first kind, were proposed by Guenaut de Montbeillard in 1776. In 1820 La Postolle, and after him Thollard, recommended hail conductors of straw ropes, attached to pointed rods, or of straw ropes with a metallic wire interwoven. Curiously enough, these methods were much followed without the least benefit flowing from them. At the present day most meteorologists are agreed that there is no certain, or at least practieal method for preventing the occurrence of hail storms. 6. On the Optical Phenomena of the Almosphere. ‘The air, although among the most transparent bodies in nature, is not perfectly so, Were this the case, its individual particles would reflect or scatter no light, and even by day the canopy of heaven would appear perfectly dark or black, with the exception of the space occupied by the sun and stars: sudden and total darkness would likewise ensue immediately on the setting of the sun. The general illumination of the heavens, and of objects not immediately reached by the direct solar rays, as also the gradual transition from daylight to the darkness of night, can only be explained on the supposition that the air does not transmit all the light, but reflects one part of the light traversing it, and absorbs another. The latter circumstance produces an enfeebling of the light, as we may rendily perceive on examining remote terrestrial objects. In such an examination we find objects becoming more indistinct with increasing distance, vanishing at last altogether. The diminution of the angle of vision ‘of course something to do with this result, but not everything, since the effect thus produced varies at diflerent times. An instrument called the di¢phanometer, invented by Saussure, is used to determine the transparency of the atmosphere. This savant painted black circles of different diameters on a white ground, and then removing from them, determined the distance at which they disappeared ; this served as a measure of the transparency in question. In the higher regions of the 399