MYSTERIES AND BEAUTIES OF THE SNOW
"Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?
Or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail?"
--Job 38:22.
Most of us have given little time or very serious thought to the study
of the snow, and the marvellous detail which goes to fashion the
individual snow crystal. In fact, if we live in a crowded city, we are
inclined to look upon a heavy snowfall as something of a nuisance, to be
shovelled and carted away as expeditiously as may be by the army of men
employed by the city for that purpose. There it lies, soiled and
unlovely, impeding pedestrianism and traffic, and thoroughly undesirable
until it is cleared away.
But once outside in the open country we are inclined to gaze forth upon
the pure expanse of snow-covered hill and plain, resplendent and
dazzling as it stretches afar under the pale winter sunshine, with a
more kindly, tolerant mood; for there we may view the snow in all its
unsullied charm; and it will surely bring fine sleighing, we concede,
and the children are hilarious and happy over prospective snow sports.
But I wish to give you a brief glimpse into a realm of snow which is
filled with charm and mystery, and when you have looked into that realm
and studied for yourself the marvellous phenomena and detail of
snow-crystal formation, you will doubtless ever after, when gazing forth
upon a snow-covered expanse, or in watching the fluttering, swirling
flakes as they descend, exclaim: Oh, the wonder and mystery of it all!
How can it be possible for such exquisitely beautiful jewelled crystals
to fashion themselves in the vast spaces of the heavens, among the
clouds!
[Illustration: 61. Blizzard type]
[Illustration: 62. Exquisite jewelled type]
Snow is, in itself, the water in solution, crystallised into irregular
and regular, more or less geometrical forms and designs, of which there
are two distinct types; the crystalline and the granular forms. The
granular formations embody a special type, and the crystalline
formations are usually transparent or ice-like, and vary in size
greatly, some being about three-quarters of an inch in greater diameter.
They fall either singly or bunched together, according to whether the
temperature and humidity is high or low.
The structural formation of snow crystals is generally found to be of
hexagonal shape, usually six-cornered or pointed, although rare types
have been discovered and photographed where such was not the case, as
the trigonal crystals shown. Snow crystals have been classified, as to
structural formation, into two types; the tubular and columnar. The
columnar types are formed of long, slender, needle-like crystals or
columns, usually tapering at one end, while the tubular crystals are
developed upon an extremely thin tubular plane. Frequently we find that
two types have united, thus forming the "compound" crystal, which is
rare, and frequently a very beautiful, showy snow jewel.
The tubular crystals are of more common occurrence and exhibit greater
beauty and diversity of outline than the plain columnar types.
The internal formation and design of the snow crystal is of great
importance and interest, and the delicately etched markings which occur
upon their surfaces, and are so well brought out in the
photo-micrographic illustrations, are due to certain minute air
inclusions or small air tubes. When the light falls upon the crystal,
these air tubes appear as dark tracings or lines and shadings and go to
form and carry out the design of each individual crystal.
[Illustration: 63. Solid, big storm type]
[Illustration: 64. A very symmetrical crystal]
[Illustration: 65. High altitude crystal]
[Illustration: 66. Freak crystal formed by broken sections uniting]
During great snowstorms the winds within such storms blowing spirally
inward toward the storm centre near the earth, and at the same time
upward and outward, above, exert the vast powers of bringing together
the material, the water vapours, which in conjunction with the icy
breath of the raging blizzard, perfects the formation of the snow
crystal.
Far above the clouds, in the vast silences of space, in thinnest air,
supported solely by up-rushing winds, the little snow crystals form and
multiply, embellished and enlarged by their continual warring contact
with the elements, until at last they descend earthward.
Many of these beautiful crystals are doubtless great travellers, for
they are frequently, when first generated in space, exceedingly light in
formation, so much so that not until they have been buffeted about
repeatedly by the Storm King, do they gain sufficiently in structure and
in weight to descend. They are gradually built up and become heavier by
the varying conditions of air pressure, degrees of humidity, aided also
by electric currents.
Often the delicate crystals are handled so very roughly while passing
from cloud to cloud strata, and violent choppy winds, that there are
frequent collisions and many of the crystals reach us in a broken,
imperfect state. Perfect crystals are by no means common, and it
requires infinite patience and skill to capture and photograph them in
perfection. During a great blizzard or snow-storm, lasting for days,
which one might reasonably hope would be quite prolific of many perfect
specimens, perhaps only one or two really perfect or noteworthy crystals
may be obtained.
It is only within the past few years that scientists have been enabled
to secure crystallographs with any degree of success, so that all early
observers of snow-crystal formation were compelled to rely upon the
magnifying glass for all information regarding their delicate formation,
and crude drawings were made from such observation and served to
illustrate articles upon the subject, as shown in the early writings of
Tyndall and others.
[Illustration: 68. Air inclusions unusually clear]
[Illustration: 69. Low altitude type]
It is to Mr. Wilson A. Bentley who is recognised as the pioneer in
crystal photography, that I am indebted for the wonderfully beautiful
illustrations shown, and which have been selected with much care, in
order to give as clearly as possible some idea of the many distinct
types and the formation of crystals produced during given types of
storms or blizzards. Mr. Bentley has during his many years of valuable
work for the Government along these lines, secured thirteen hundred
distinct snow crystals. Strangely enough, in all that time, he has never
run across duplicates. Nature, it seems, is ever versatile and the
rarity of her patterns is practically inexhaustible.
Unlike the mineral crystals, or those found in the mineral kingdom,
which form beneath the surface of the earth, and are dependent largely
upon their surroundings and environments for their crystalline
formation, the snow crystal is most ethereal; born in the vast spaces of
the heavens, fashioned by the changing clouds and vapours, its lullaby
the hoarse crooning of the mighty blizzard, the little snowflake is
tossed to and fro, now borne to earth for a brief time, only to be
caught upward and tempest-tossed into space again. Perhaps this process
occurs many times, for the snowflake is a mere plaything of the storm,
until at last the capricious winds permit the snowflake to descend.
Timidly and gently it is at last allowed to fall, seeking a final
resting place upon the broad bosom of Mother Earth.
It is thus that the snow crystal grows and matures, owing its
crystalline formation entirely to the constant tossing and warring with
the mighty forces of the storm, and the buffeting which it encounters
upon its long journey earthwards.
[Illustration: 70. Local storm crystal]
[Illustration: 71. Freak trigonal crystal]
[Illustration: 72. Elaborately etched]
"When e'er a snowflake leaves the sky
It turns and turns, to say good-bye.
Good-bye, dear clouds, so cool and gray,
Then turns and hastens on its way.
"But when a snowflake finds a tree
Good-day, it says, good-day to thee.
Thou art so bare and lonely, dear,
I'll rest and find a playmate here.
"But when a snowflake brave and meek
Lights on a little maiden's cheek,
It starts--how warm and mild the day,
'Tis summer; and it melts away."
It is of course utterly impossible to bring before you in the
photo-micrographs of the snow crystals all their many charms, their
exquisite hues and rainbow shadings, as each crystal radiates with
prismatic hues which are due greatly to air inclusions and resembles
closely at times, clusters of magnificent jewels. We get this effect in
mass, if we gaze forth upon a wide expanse of snow illuminated by pale
moonlight, or flooded by strong sunshine. The scintillation is almost
too dazzling at times for the eyes, and we are duly impressed by the
magnitude of snow-crystal formation. Numberless they are, and like the
sands of the seashore. We find that in making a collection of snow
crystals by photo-micrograph, during a period covering twenty years of
study, in which thirteen hundred perfect specimens were found, that the
entire number discovered, when massed, would form only about one cubic
inch of snow.
How many millions of these exquisitely constructed jewels do we
heedlessly crush and shatter unconsciously during a brief walk in the
snow and how crude and imperfect seem the productions of human minds and
hands when compared to those formed by the blind forces of nature.
The exquisite and varied types of snow crystals herein shown, were
photographed in northern Vermont; a locality where the snow-storms are
frequently long and severe and where the country by-roads are blocked
and impassable for days, while huge drifts pile high above the fences,
and often cover the windows.
[Illustration: 73. The cuff button crystals. From a great storm]
[Illustration: 74. Low cloud crystal]
[Illustration: 75. A beautifully marked high altitude crystal]
Whittier brings before us the whole picture so charmingly in his
beautiful "Snow-Bound":
"Zigzag, wavering to and fro,
Crossed and re-crossed the winged snow;
And ere the early bed-time came
The white drift piled the window pane."
In these severe winter snow-storms which our New England poets
illustrate so aptly, we become familiar with the snow in all its
unsullied purity, and if we are New England born, we never forget the
white, frozen charms of those rigid winters, no matter where we stray,
or how torrid the sunshine of our abiding place in later years.
Many there are among us who are familiar with and love that winter idyl,
the wintry landscape--a blended symphony of colouring; warm russet
browns, gray, and rich velvety greens. Against the dense greens of the
Hemlock and Spruce, the sturdy mottled Sycamore branches, with their
little pendent russet balls clinging tenaciously to their topmost twigs,
stand forth in bold relief, while graceful white birches, slender and
ghost-like, mingle and blend with the sombre gray trunks of Chestnut and
Birch, which toss and sway their denuded branches high in the frosty
air.
A cold gray sky--then stealing down appear the first silent fluttering
snowflakes, floating gently earthward. A brooding silence settles over
all, unbroken save perhaps by a straggling flight of crows winging their
way heavily to safe shelter among the distant forest of dark pines.
Timidly at first descend the first advance heralds of the great storm,
the tiny snowflakes; then suddenly ever faster and faster they assemble,
until the dreary, leaden skies and the landscape picture is confused and
merged together in a gray curtain; shut out by the wildly eddying,
swirling snow.
[Illustration: 76. Crystal coated with granular snow]
[Illustration: 77. Having flower-like petals]
"Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,
Arrives the snow, and driving o'er the fields
Seems nowhere to alight, the whitened air
Hides hills and woods, the river, and the heavens
And veils the farmhouse at the garden's end."
Every living thing instinctively seeks safe sanctuary against the
advancing fury of the storm; and desolation broods o'er all the land.
The hoarse winds rise and rage and croon their wailing symphonies about
the picturesque old gray-gabled farmhouses, and the inmates settle
themselves contentedly within doors where all is made safe and snug. And
thus the mighty blizzard rages for days. But at last the grateful
sunshine deigns to burst forth once again, and like magic the scene of
desolation has changed:
"Come, see the North Wind's masonry
Out of an unseen quarry evermore
Furnished with tile, the fierce artificer
Curves the white bastions with projected roof
Round every windward stake, or tree or door.
"Leaves when the sun appears, astonished Art
To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone,
Built in an age, the mad wind's night-work,
The frolic Architecture of the snow."
For the trees which tossed their naked gnarled branches in the pitiless
wind before the storm have been rejuvenated and clothed anew in soft
white velvet draperies, and the old gray fence rails gleam and
scintillate, cushioned with snow. It would almost seem as though nature
had endeavoured to carry out some special decorative scheme when she
draped the evergreens, for see how beautiful are the Southern Pines with
their brush-like tufts of needles, each one resembling a snowy pompon of
feathers. The graceful, drooping Hackmatack tree looks as though the
children had decorated it with strings of popcorn, the tiny cones at
intervals each touched with a wisp of white snow carrying out the
effect. While the Balsams wave their serrated branches, each tiny needle
outlined in white, and the stately Hemlocks bend low their glossy green
boughs, flattened and draped heavily with snow. In the hedges the thick
underbrush appears for all the world like a field of ripening cotton,
each group of twigs supporting a whorl of cotton-like snow. No true New
Englander repines or deplores the desolation of such a scene; to him it
is not a gloomy spectacle, but rather festive.
[Illustration: 78. Very intricate design]
[Illustration: 79. Showing a perfect star. Low altitude type]
Should you wander alone far afield, perhaps across some hilly pasture
where above the soft snow hummocks last year's drying seed-pods and
grasses gleam frost-touched and sparkling in the sunshine, into the edge
of the "spruce bush," if you are a lover of nature in all her moods,
aside from the glittering beauties which meet the eye upon every hand,
you will be impressed by a wonderful calmness, a brooding silence, which
came with the advent of the snow. This silence is so impressive that
even the velvety pad of some little furry creature in the underbrush is
startling, and the tapping of the brave little woodpecker up aloft
sounds stridently keen and obtrusive. It is as though the storm in
passing had left as a benediction, this great peace which broods over
all.
In tropical countries snow is never seen, for it does not reach the
earth, excepting that which falls upon lofty mountain tops. On the
summits of very high mountains the snow occurs intermittently whether in
frigid or tropical zones. Snow is a wonderfully important factor in the
laws which govern irrigation, for as it melts upon the tops of mountains
it adds greatly to the watershed or drainage, flowing into all streams
and carrying fertility to all regions.
[Illustration: 80. Frigid altitude crystal]
[Illustration: 81. High and low altitude combined]
[Illustration: 82. Having beautifully etched centre]
[Illustration: 83. A diamond pendant]
Although certain types of snow crystals may be detected with the naked
eye, most of them are so tiny that their structural form cannot be
determined without the aid of a microscope. If you chance to be out of
doors during a snowfall, and happen to wear a dark coat of wool
material, observe closely the flakes which chance to alight upon your
sleeve and perhaps you may be able to recognise a true crystal.
When, as we sometimes remark, "Mother Goose is shaking out her feather
bed," and the white flakes come drifting down in large loose feathery
flakes, then we may more readily discover a crystal without the aid of a
glass. It is then that we find the lace-like, open, branchy and
star-like shapes. These usually form during a local storm, or from a
storm preceded by a warm wave. But the hard pellet-like crystals which
sting our window-panes in falling, are from a very high altitude, and
have been great travellers.
The study of the snow and its many mysterious phases is full of surprise
and charm; and its various demonstrations fascinating and almost
unexplainable. Among the many strange manifestations encountered in the
kingdom of snow, perhaps there is nothing more mysterious than the
so-called "snow rollers." They are rather a recent discovery among snow
students, and not frequently encountered. Two good examples of these
curious rollers are given in photograph illustrations. The photographer
came upon them quite unexpectedly and thought at first that the children
had been amusing themselves by rolling huge snowballs. But upon
investigation he discovered that these mysterious bundles of snow were
quite hollow, like a large muff, and scattered at intervals over a large
snow-covered field. These mysterious snow rollers form only after a
light fluffy snowfall, followed by a rise in the temperature, from a
degree or so above zero up to 36° or 38° above, accompanied by a
peculiar stray gusty wind.
[Illustration: 84. Clean cut prism-like crystal from high altitude]
[Illustration: 85. Suggesting a Masonic emblem. Trigonal crystal]
[Illustration: 86. The Egyptian crystal, because of its characteristic
tracings]
The rollers form most frequently in the foothill regions, wherein these
gusty winds pour over and around the hilltops, and down across the
valleys. After the temperature has reached 36° to 38° above and the
snow upon the surface of the ground has been slightly dampened and
rendered sticky, the capricious wind gusts scoop up here and there small
particles of the moist snow, and overturn them upon that in front,
forming a ridge or hollow arch, which is the commencement of the snow
roller. Then the wind gets back of it, and proceeds to roll it forward,
until, as it gradually rolls along it accumulates more snow, and
increases in size, until it becomes too heavy a plaything for the sport
of the winds, and then it stops.
These snow rollers grow in size both in diameter and in length, as they
roll along, and attain various sizes from a few inches in diameter up to
two feet in diameter. Some of the rolls are overturned by the boisterous
winds in such a manner as to form a hollow snow arch, and hence some of
the rolls are hollow even when matured. Hundreds of these rather
mysterious snow formations occur to the acre of land, and they form both
on a dead level and upon inclines.
That snow crystal study is extremely fascinating is well shown, for Mr.
Bentley declares that although he works out of doors for hours at a
time, when often his hands are well-nigh frost-bitten by the intense
cold, in below zero weather, yet he is himself almost unconscious of
discomfort or real suffering from the cold, so keenly interested and
intent is he at the time, in securing some new and wonderful type of
crystal to add to his already large collection of snow jewels.
[Illustration: 87. Unusually symmetrical and clearly defined]
[Illustration: 88. Singular detail; dotted centre design]
[Illustration: 89. Trigonal crystal, very cold storm type]
To make a collection of the snow crystals it is necessary, first of all,
to make a receiving board. This is just a flat board covered with black
velvet or wool material. The operator then places the board in a
favourable position for catching the flakes as they descend, and then
closely watches the receiving board as flake after flake alights upon
the black surface. His eye will become sufficiently trained by
experience at last to detect a fairly perfect specimen. If such a
crystal alights--and sometimes it is weary waiting, for in a storm
lasting an entire day, frequently but two or three perfect crystals
deign to alight upon the receiving board--but when the perfect crystal
arrives, then with infinite skill, and just the right touch, which must
be acquired by practice, the little crystal is gently lifted upon a
tiny, sharp-pointed stick, transferred to the slide and photographed as
quickly as possible, before it has had an opportunity to dissolve, and
become again a mere drop of uninteresting moisture. The camera used is
photo-micrographic, or a camera with a microscopic attachment.
Regarding the formation of the snow into crystalline forms, we are told
that the molecules and atoms of all substances when allowed freedom of
movement, form themselves into many definite shapes and designs called
crystals. Minerals, gold, silver, iron, sulphur, when melted and
permitted to cool, gradually show this crystallising power. And by
dissolving saltpetre in water and allowing the solution to slowly
evaporate, large crystals will form, more or less symmetrical, as the
salt is converted into vapour. Alum readily crystallises in the same
way. The diamond is crystallised carbon, and all precious stones are
examples of mineral crystals. It would be quite an interesting and novel
experiment to photograph some of these crystals formed of minerals such
as saltpetre, alum and others, and to compare them with the structural
formation of snow crystals.
[Illustration: 90. Note the young germ crystals invading this crystal]
[Illustration: 91. Granular pellet crystals from a warm cloud]
[Illustration: 92. Columnar six-sided type. Singular effect of miniature
photographs enclosed]
Water itself as a liquid is to all appearances formless; when
sufficiently cooled, however, the molecules are brought within play of
the crystallising force, and thus arrange themselves in more or less
attractive crystals. A most interesting point, well worthy of
consideration, is that it is extremely improbable that anyone has as yet
found, perhaps never will find, the one preëminently beautiful and
symmetrical snow crystal which nature has probably fashioned in her most
artistic mood--her masterpiece. The study of this unique branch of
nature work is as yet in its infancy. It possesses all the charm of
novelty, and many who take it up will find in it a source of much
pleasure as well as instruction.
It would seem that there is really no limit to the number of distinct
forms and types among the snow crystals. It will be noted that many of
the designs are most rare and fanciful, and really worthy of developing
and reproducing in many ways. The open, lace-like types might well be
copied by a jeweller or worker in precious stones, for nothing could be
more exquisite in a pendant or brooch than one of these snow-crystal
designs carried out in diamonds. Others suggest rare patterns for lace
work and embroideries, while others are wonderfully effective pieces of
mosaic work, or suggestive studies for stained window-glass. Many of the
patterns might well serve for wall-paper or print material designs. And
as a drawing lesson, the simpler forms might be copied and with their
history and detail, afford a pleasant and profitable study.
Ideas along these lines it seems to me are limitless and well worth
cultivating.
Again, to quote Whittier, how charmingly has he portrayed, in the
following lines, the strangely beautiful and mysterious formation of the
ethereal snow crystal:
[Illustration: 93. Sleet, sharp and stinging]
"So all night long the storm roared on;
The morning broke without the sun;
In tiny spherule traced with lines
Of Nature's geometric signs,
In starry flake, and pellicle,
All day the hoary meteors fell."
That all may know and understand the life history and formation of the
crystals shown in the photographs, I will give a brief description of
each which you will doubtless find both interesting and instructive. It
will be seen that each crystal possesses some individual characteristic
differing entirely from its predecessor, and each, in its way,
fascinating and beautiful.
No. 61. A very showy crystal, of local-storm type, also a blizzard
crystal formed in low, warm altitude.
No. 62. This exquisite crystal might well suggest a jewelled brooch or
pendant of rare workmanship. It began its formation in a very high
altitude, where the solid, hexagonal centre was formed, started to
descend in plain hexagonal form, but was caught upwards by the rushing
clouds, tossed about awhile, and then allowed to pass into a lower,
warmer altitude where its elaborated branches were added.
No. 63. A high, frigid-altitude crystal, notable for its delicately
traced centre design, and the six curious, apparently raised formations
in the plainer spaces.
No. 64. Remarkable for its six beautiful prism-like rays, and central
wheel-like structure.
No. 65. An exquisitely designed centre, with air inclusions strongly
marked.
No. 66. This crystal has been formed of two sections, and must have
encountered another broken crystal in its travels, with which it united,
and from this its crystalline growth formed.
No. 68. An oddity. The air inclusions are very strongly marked and bring
into sharp relief its rare central design.
No. 69. A local-storm type. These crystals are always loose and feathery
in construction.
[Illustration: 94. Old snow, re-crystallized]
[Illustration: 95. Freak crystal. Developed the sides only which fell
downwards]
No. 70 was started in a very high, cold altitude, and completed in
warmer clouds.
No. 71. A rare trigonal form, a sort of "freak" crystal.
No. 72 has delicate tracings.
No. 73. A very remarkable group of snow crystals, which always attract
wonder and incredulity, as they appear upon close inspection to
represent quite a pretty set of collar buttons or studs. These snow
crystals are the product of a very great storm, and they travelled a
long distance before reaching the earth. They were generated in a very
high, frigid altitude. When these singular snow crystals descended they
fell in parachute fashion, the larger section downward.
No. 74. Low-altitude type.
No. 75. This crystal is remarkable for the peculiar delicately etched
tracings of its centre, and the rather curious designs in each scallop.
A rarity.
No. 76. A crystal powdered with frost-work; has granular edges.
No. 77. A flower type, having few air inclusions, as it grew rapidly and
continuously.
No. 78. A very beautiful jewelled design of the diamond pendant type. A
local storm crystal.
No. 79. Also a local-storm crystal, generated in warm, low clouds.
No. 80. A perfect hexagonal type having rarely beautiful air inclusions.
No. 81. A lace-like crystal.
No. 82. Note the very beautiful centre elaboration of this crystal, and
the plain, apparently unfinished branches.
No. 83. An extremely showy crystal; also a blizzard type.
No. 84. A singularly beautiful type, having unique centre elaborations,
and perfect, glass-like prismatic branches.
No. 85. Here we have what appears at first glance to be some secret
emblem or Masonic order sent from cloud-land. Of rare trigonal, solid
form.
[Illustration: 96. Snow rollers. Very rare]
[Illustration: 97. Scattered like huge muffs over large tracts of land
they lie]
No. 86. An Egyptian mystery. Study the markings of this strange crystal
closely; its delicately etched centre formation, and the strange
characters which form its border. May it not well be some secret cypher
message from the skies? Who shall say? This crystal is an extremely cold
weather type, as all solidly formed crystals are.
No. 87. The peculiarity of this crystal is the apparent correction made
in its nuclear construction.
No. 88. A very delicate and beautiful type. Note the strange grouping of
symmetrically arranged dots in its centre formation.
No. 89. Trigonal. A general-storm type.
No. 90. Upon the face of this crystal appear young germ crystals which
have attached themselves to the crystal proper.
No. 91. Round, granular snow pellets, from cumulus clouds.
No. 92. Columnar snow crystals; a peculiarity noticeable in these
ice-like prisms is that each one contains apparently, at first glance, a
picture held in its depths.
No. 93. This is another distinct type of snow, the needle, or spicular
form--sleety, which stings and cuts the face when driven by high winds.
No. 94. A piece of old snow re-crystallised.
No. 95. This crystal is remarkable in that it fell and grew heavier side
downward, leaving its upper branches undeveloped.
Nos. 96 and 97 show the mysterious "snow rollers" scattered over the
surface of a field, with a glimpse of the wintery landscape as a
background.
Nos. 98, 99, and 100 are "freak" crystals, 100 showing singularly shaped
tablets attached.
No. 101. A twin crystal.
No. 102. This crystal grew very rapidly and continuously; a warm cloud
type.
No. 103. Two types combined.
No. 104. A rare design, with fluted prisms, central etchings notable.
[Illustration: 98. A freak crystal]
[Illustration: 99. Two broken crystals united]
[Illustration: 100. A society emblem. High altitude]
[Illustration: 101. Twin crystal]
No. 105. A remarkably fine specimen. A cold-weather type of crystal.
Also has marked perfection in air inclusions.
No. 106. This crystal is another great traveller, a high-altitude type.
Such crystals usually possess marked precision and finish in detail as
they are long in forming.
No. 107. A star crystal.
No. 108. Notable for its very dark centre, and scroll-like detail.
No. 109. Plain, high altitude type.
No. 110. Local storm type.
No. 111. A prismatic beauty.
No. 112. A very frigid-altitude type.
No. 113. Contrasting, low-altitude type.
No. 114. This crystal possesses a remarkably intricate and noteworthy
centre.
No. 115. Also has elaborate centre design.
No. 116. A remarkably beautiful, jewelled effect; intricate centre. This
crystal is another mystery. It is of a high-altitude type, and is called
"the arrow crystal" because of the six clearly defined arrows upon its
surface. A crystal worthy of study.
No. 117. Remarkable feathery type. Low-altitude crystal.
No. 118. Notable for very dark centre, and invasion of germ crystals
upon its surface.
No. 119 shows a high-altitude type where the centre hexagonal portion is
well perfected, but the branch-like rays show imperfections and
incompleteness of structural formation.
No. 120 is one of the most showy crystals in the collection. Of trigonal
formation with fantastic prism-like branches; a high-altitude type.
No. 121 is a strange crystal, something of a "freak," while No. 122 is a
singularly beautiful type, notable for its very dark centre, and the
unique and rather mysterious tracings which go to form its border. This
crystal must have remained in a very high altitude for some time before
descending as it shows finely finished detail.
[Illustration: 102. A feathery type. Local storm]
[Illustration: 103. Leaf-like terminations]
No. 123 is a beautiful flower type. Usually the branches merge together
but in this instance they remained open like flower petals.
No. 124. A high-altitude crystal covered with a deposit of granular
snow.
No. 125. Very high-altitude type, having curious inner tracings.
No. 126. A beautiful symmetrical star design, with leaf-like terminating
branches. A local-storm type.
No. 127. A great traveller from a cold high altitude.
[Illustration: 104. Delicately etched centre]
[Illustration: 105. High altitude crystal. Rare and singularly perfect
in construction]
ICE AND ITS FORMATION
[Illustration: 106. Solid type]
[Illustration: 107. A star type. Very high altitude]
[Illustration: 108. Very unusual centre formation]
[Illustration: 109. Mosaic like]