_He saith to the Snow, Be thou on the face of the Earth.—Job 37:6._
When the watery vapors in the atmosphere are in sufficient quantities
to be precipitated to the earth, and at the same time their temperature
is at or below the freezing point, their particles unite, but not as
fluid drops. In approaching each other they arrange themselves in
regular figures, called _crystals_. The various forms of these may
be grouped into three general classes.
1. _Prismatic_, having three or six sides, usually the latter
(page 11, figs. 2, 4). Scoresby compares the finest specimens of these
to “white hairs cut into lengths not exceeding a quarter of an inch.”
2. _Pyramidal_, either triangular or hexagonal (figs. 5, 6). They
are exceedingly small, being only one-thirtieth of an inch in hight.
3. _Lamellar_, consisting of thin and flat plates, some of them
stelliform, having six points radiating from a center (fig. 11), and
some hexagonal (page 21, fig. 1). Both these species are in infinite
abundance, and of all sizes, from the smallest speck to one-third of an
inch in diameter.
These three leading forms are endlessly combined, and give rise to
innumerable varieties, from the simplest to the most complex. Pyramids
are mounted on prisms, at one or both ends (page 11, figs. 7, 8);
prisms are united in one star-like figure, like spokes of a wheel
(fig. 10), and both are joined with plates in all conceivable forms
of beauty and diversity. The specimens shown throughout our series of
engravings illustrate these. The plates themselves are complex, showing
within their outer boundaries white lines, which divide them into
triangles, stars, hexagons, and other regular figures. Some plates are
transparent, others opaque (page 21, fig. 13).
When the prisms are combined with plates, it is generally in the same
plane, but sometimes the former are set perpendicularly to the surfaces
of the latter (page 29, figs. 18, 19, 20, 21). These singular figures
resemble a wheel with its axle. Scoresby says that on one occasion,
snow of this kind fell upon the deck of his ship to the depth of three
or four inches!
In some instances the central plate has little prisms or spines
projecting from it like hairs, on one or both sides, at an angle of
sixty degrees. Sometimes, instead of a plate, the central part is a
little rough mass like a hailstone, bristling with spines, somewhat
resembling a chestnut-bur.
Much attention has been given to the meteorological conditions of the
atmosphere during the fall of snow, to ascertain in what circumstances
the different varieties of crystals are produced. Nothing very
definite, however, is discoverable in this respect. The general facts
are thus summed up by Mr. Scoresby: “When the temperature of the air is
within a degree or two of the freezing point, and much snow falls, it
frequently consists of large, irregular flakes, such as are common in
Britain. Sometimes it exhibits small granular, or large rough, white
concretions; at others it consists of white spiculæ, or flakes composed
of coarse spiculæ, or rude, stellated crystals formed of visible
grains. But in severe frosts, though the sky appears perfectly clear,
lamellar flakes of snow of the most regular and beautiful forms are
always seen floating in the air and sparkling in the sunbeams; and
the snow which falls in general is of the most elegant texture and
appearance.”
Of the hidden causes which originate these beautiful productions,
nothing whatever is known. Some have imagined that they are to be
found in the forms of the primal atoms of water, which are assumed
to be triangles or hexagons, and which, therefore, uniting by their
similar sides or edges, must give rise to crystals of regular forms.
Others find the solution in magnetic or electrical affinities, which
are supposed to require the particles to unite by some law of polar
attraction. But even if these theories were demonstrated, they
would explain nothing. _Why_ the particles must unite in these
particular methods, or what is the nature of attraction itself, no man
knows. It is sufficient to say, with the learned and devout navigator
who has done most to make us acquainted with these beautiful objects,
“Some of the general varieties in the figures of the crystals may be
referred to the temperature of the air; but the particular and endless
modifications of similar classes of crystals can only be referred to
the will and pleasure of the great First Cause, whose works, even the
most minute and evanescent, and in regions the most remote from human
observation, are altogether admirable.”
* * * * *
Snow is formed in the higher regions of our atmosphere. It is the
wild, raging water of the ocean, the gentle rill of the mountains,
the beautiful lake, and the vilest pond on earth, all taxed and made
to contribute at the bidding of their Lord to this department of his
treasure-house. They send up their tribute in the finest particles of
moisture; the steady contribution coming up from all parts of the globe
indiscriminately. No matter what king claims the fields and rivers and
mountains to minister to his wants, our God makes them all fill his
treasury. The vapor comes up like gold, in grains and nuggets. It must
be cast into the King’s furnace and formed into his coin, before he can
use it. Now tell me how he makes snow out of vapor. You can answer it
in one sentence,—by diminishing the heat. Easily said; but who can do
it? A profound philosopher, in remarking on the magnificent glacial
phenomenon of January, 1845, when for eight days there was one of the
most wonderful displays of the effects of cold perhaps ever witnessed
in our latitude, when the earth and every twig seemed covered with
diamonds, says of it, “Job speaks of the balancing of the clouds
as among the mysteries of ancient philosophy. But how much nicer
the balancing and counter-balancing of the complicated agencies of
the atmosphere, in order to bring out this glacial miracle in full
perfection! What wisdom and power short of infinite could have brought
it about?” It is equally appropriate to ask, What but infinite power
could produce all the agencies and instruments needed in creating one
flake of snow? The tiny creature says, as you examine it,—
“The hand that made me is divine!”
Kirk.
[Illustration]
_The First Snow._
I love to watch the first soft snow,
As it slowly saileth down,
Purer and whiter than the pearls
That grace a monarch’s crown;
Though winter wears a freezing look
And many a surly frown.
It lighteth like the feathery down
Upon the naked trees,
And on the pale and withered flowers
That swing in every breeze;
And they are clothed in such bright robes
As summer never sees.
It bringeth pleasant memories—
The falling, falling snow—
Of neighing steeds, and jingling bells,
In the happy long ago,
When hopes were bright, and health was good,
And the spirits were not low.
And it giveth many promises
Of quiet joys in store,
Of bliss around the blazing hearth
When daylight is no more,—
Such bliss as nowhere else hath lived
Since the Eden days were o’er.
God bless the eye that views, with mine,
The falling snow to-day;
May Truth her pure white mission spread
Before its searching ray,
And lead, with dazzling garments, toward
The “strait and narrow way.”
Julia H. Scott.
[Illustration]
Peboan.
Now, o’er all the dreary North-land,
Mighty Peboan, the Winter,
Breathing on the lakes and rivers,
Into stone had changed their waters;
From his hair he shook the snow-flakes
Till the plains were strewn with whiteness,
One uninterrupted level,
As if, stooping, the Creator
With his hand had smoothed them over.
Longfellow.
[Illustration]
Unity in Diversity.
_The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm.—Nahum 1:3._
Obedience to law is apparent in all the works of the Creator. However
varied or complicated their structure, however intricate their
motions, however multiform their aspects, there is an all-wise design
pervading them, a clue running through all diversities, and reducing
all to unity and harmony in the grand scheme of the universe. The
Lord hath _his_ way in them all; and that is the single line of
righteousness and beneficence.
Amid the endless varieties of the snow-crystals a singular law of unity
is apparent. It is the _angle of sixty degrees_, or some multiple
of it. This is one-sixth of the complete circle; hence the hexiform or
six-sided configuration of its prisms and plates. It is curious to
glance over the patterns which we exhibit, and trace the operations
of this law. Let the congealing vapor assume what fantastic shapes it
will, let it riot in the profusion of its beautiful efflorations, yet
it can never escape the control of that central attraction which binds
them all in one. Hence their name, _flakes, i. e._, flocks; the
fleecy crystals, though spreading abroad each in its utmost individual
liberty, being still retained within one ownership and belonging to one
fold.
Like this law of unity in nature is God’s great law of love in his
moral realm. It is the principle of order and harmony throughout his
intelligent universe. God’s own nature is love, and it reigns among all
the shining ranks of heaven. And in the numberless worlds which fill
immensity, and through the utmost variety of capacities and grades of
beings, it needs but the fulfillment of this law to secure universal
joy. Love is the one principle which binds all individuals and
provinces of his rational kingdom to each other, and each to his throne.
* * * * *
One great law of crystallization controls the whole snow world. Every
flake has a skeleton as distinct as the human skeleton, and yet the
individual flake is as different from its neighbor as man is from his.
The fundamental law of the snow is to crystallize in three, or some
multiple of three. All its angles must be sixty, or one hundred and
twenty. All its prisms and pyramids must be triangular or hexagonal;
whether spicular, or pyramidal, or lamellar, it ever conforms to its
own great law of order, and thus conveys delight to the eye, and most
delight to him who, having pleasure in the works of God, searches them
out.
Some men reproach the Protestant Church for its various sects. But
let such men examine God’s works. Unity in variety is the law of the
snow. There is a Trinity in it. Every snow-flake imitates its Creator
by being three in one. It has a stern basis of fundamental doctrine;
and it would excommunicate any snow-flake that tried to stand on any
other. But around that fundamental unity is the free play of individual
peculiarities. All snow-flakes are alike essentially, while probably no
two are identical in details.
Kirk.
[Illustration]
The Snow-Shower.
Still falling, falling, falling fast,
These messengers have come at last,
All floating through the chilly air,
On softest pinions, white and fair,
Each like a dove with downy breast,
High fluttering o’er its icy nest.
So coming, coming, coming still
From heaven, what daily blessings fill
Life’s chalice with full many a joy,
Which Time’s cold hand can not destroy;
So pure, so holy at their birth,
They sweetly charm the ills of earth.
Upon my heart, when lone and still,
As freely may pure gifts distill,
Awakening strains of sweetest peace,
Whose melody shall never cease,
Till, far beyond the reach of time,
They swell heaven’s harmony sublime.
Drown.
To a Snow-Flake.
Thou rain-drop, snow-crystalled, most fragile and fair!
Borne from the far cloud-land and fashioned in air,
What measures befit thee? Some song of the spheres
Should chant out thy praise, with the swift-rolling years.
Like a gem cast in setting from heaven’s bright floor,
Thou art pure, and all perfect, like the One we adore.
Three stars make thy glory,—the mystical sign
Of the Three named in heaven,—One Spirit Divine!
I behold thee afar, lest a warm human touch,
And the breath of my singing, with praise over-much,
Should make thee to perish, thy grace disappear,
And thy soft beauty vanish, dissolved in a tear.
Like thee I have come from a realm far away,
And like thee I shall live but a brief mortal day.
Like thee I shall find neither haven nor rest,
And descend like thee, once, to the Earth’s frozen breast;
But thou shalt move onward, completing God’s will
Through the courses of Nature, thy round to fulfill;
A drop in the river—a flake mid the snows—
A gleam in the rainbow—the dew on the rose.
Then go, little snow-flake! I prize thee not less,
That our paths must divide, and I onward must press;
For I must mount upward yet higher and higher,
Nevermore to descend with heart-baffled desire;
For the light of God’s Being is kindled in mine,
And my soul in his presence for ever must shine,
Where the purest snow-crystal looks tarnished and dim,
By the white jasper walls; where the saints’ choral hymn
Floats up day and night through the fair golden street,
God’s praise on their lips, and their crowns at his feet,
Exchanging Earth’s crosses, the frost and the blight,
The snows of the valley, and mists of the night,
The brightest earth-blossoms, all the world can afford,
For Sharon’s red rose, and the smile of the Lord.