A WINTER SCENE
Oh come to the window, dear brother, and see
What a change has been made in the night;
The snow is all over the big cedar tree,
And the ground, too, is covered with white.
James Taylor.
WATER WONDERS EVERY
CHILD SHOULD KNOW
LITTLE STUDIES OF DEW,
FROST, SNOW, ICE AND RAIN
BY
JEAN M. THOMPSON
ILLUSTRATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS
BY WILSON A. BENTLEY
NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1907, by
Doubleday, Page & Company
All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian
TO G. W. R.
I DEDICATE THIS LITTLE BOOK, AS AN EXPRESSION OF APPRECIATION AND ESTEEM
NOTE
I am greatly indebted to Mr. Wilson A. Bentley for valuable assistance in the arrangement of this book, and particularly for permission to reproduce the microphotographs. Jean M. Thompson.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE I. [When the Dew Falls] 5 II. [The Coming of the Hoar Frost] 37 III. [Etchings by Jack Frost] 65 IV. [Mysteries and Beauties of the Snow] 97 V. [Ice and Its Formation] 169 VI. [The Beneficent Rain] 205
ILLUSTRATIONS
[A Winter Scene] Frontispiece FACING PAGE [3. Grass blade with dew deposit] 5 [4. Showing how sharp-pointed grasses collect and retain the dewdrops] 5 [5. Grass blade holding two drops] 5 [6. Dewdrop on grass blade] 5 [7. Spider’s web entire] 9 [8. Detail section of spider’s web dew-laden] 9 [9. A dew-laden strawberry leaf] 13 [10. Dewdrop caught on vegetable hairs] 13 [11. The sleeping caterpillar was a good subject] 13 [12. The surface of a leaf dew-covered] 13 [13. Dew caught and held upon the down of plant stem] 14 [14. Dew upon the down of a leaf] 14 [17. Hoar-frost deposit upon a stick] 18 [18. Dainty lace-like formation of hoar frost] 18 [19. Winter tabular hoar frost resembling a group of butterflies] 18 [20. Like a piece of bleached coral] 22 [21. Tabular hoar frost] 22 [22. Tree form tabular hoar frost which grew in zero weather] 22 [23. A winter type of hoar frost] 26 [24. Columnar hoar frost upon a decaying log] 26 [25. Striking arrangement of hoar-frost crystals] 26 [26. Showing hoar-frost elaboration] 33 [27. Hoar-frost deposit upon grass blades] 33 [28. Moss-like hoar frost deposited upon surface of pond] 37 [29. Columnar hoar frost scattered over brook ice] 37 [30. An odd hoar-frost formation] 41 [31. Detail tabular hoar frost] 41 [32. Detail tabular hoar-frost crystals] 41 [33. Cup-form hoar frost] 41 [34a. Columnar hoar-frost crystals] 45 [34b. Columnar hoar frost] 45 [35. Linear-type window-pane frost] 46 [36. Showing initials crudely scratched upon glass] 46 [37. An exquisite lace pattern in frost] 50 [38. A beautiful example of two distinct types] 54 [39. Fern-like scrolls, delicate background] 54 [40. A perfect fern leaf] 58 [41. Raised fern-like arrangement] 58 [42. Showing in detail granular frost] 58 [43. Graceful feathers with curling ends] 62 [44. Strikingly beautiful example] 62 [45. One of Jack Frost’s masterpieces] 69 [46. A mass of feathers scattered upon glass] 69 [47. Sometimes Jack Frost sketches oak leaves] 73 [48. Detail of frost crystals largely magnified] 73 [49. Twigs and leaves] 77 [50. Branch-like arrangement of twigs] 77 [51. Moss-like arrangement of frost] 78 [52. Twin freaks] 78 [53. An unusual design] 82 [54. A powdering of small flowers] 82 [55. A maple-leaf etching] 86 [56. Find the frost spider] 86 [57. Two distinct types of window-pane frost] 90 [58. Curious design suggesting a spider web] 90 [59. One of the choicest designs of window frost] 97 [60. A design of frost work from “the land of the pointed firs”] 97 [61. Blizzard type] 101 [62. Exquisite jewelled type] 101 [63. Solid, big-storm type] 105 [64. A very symmetrical crystal] 105 [65. High-altitude crystal] 105 [66. Freak crystal formed by broken sections uniting] 105 [68. Air inclusions unusually clear] 109 [69. Low-altitude type] 109 [70. Local-storm crystal] 110 [71. Freak trigonal crystal] 110 [72. Elaborately etched] 110 [73. The cuff-button crystals] 114 [74. Low-cloud crystal] 114 [75. A beautifully marked high-altitude crystal] 114 [76. Crystal coated with granular snow] 118 [77. Having flower-like petals] 118 [78. Very intricate design] 122 [79. Showing a perfect star] 122 [80. Frigid-altitude crystal] 126 [81. High- and low-altitude type combined] 126 [82. Having beautifully etched center] 126 [83. A diamond pendant] 126 [84. Clean-cut prism-like crystal from high altitude] 133 [85. Suggesting a Masonic emblem] 133 [86. The Egyptian crystal] 133 [87. Unusually symmetrical and clearly defined] 137 [88. Singular detail] 137 [89. Trigonal crystal] 137 [90. Young germ crystals] 141 [91. Granular pellet crystals] 141 [92. Columnar six-sided type] 141 [93. Sleet, sharp and stinging] 142 [94. Old snow, re-crystallised] 146 [95. Freak crystal] 146 [96. Snow rollers] 150 [97. Scattered like huge muffs over large tracts of land] 150 [98. A freak crystal] 154 [99. Two broken crystals united] 154 [100. A society emblem] 154 [101. A twin crystal] 154 [102. A feathery type] 161 [103. Leaf-like terminations] 161 [104. Delicately etched centre] 165 [105. High-altitude crystal] 165 [106. Solid type] 169 [107. Star type] 169 [108. Very unusual centre formation] 169 [109. Mosaic like] 169 [110. Feathery type] 173 [111. Clear prism-like branches] 173 [112. Solid type] 173 [113. Low-altitude crystal] 173 [114. Having notably elaborate centre] 174 [115. Very elaborate design] 174 [116. The arrow crystal] 174 [117. Low-altitude type] 174 [118. High-altitude crystal] 178 [119. A daintily etched centre design] 178 [120. Branchy trigonal crystal] 182 [121. An uncommon type] 182 [122. One of the most elaborate crystals shown] 186 [123. A rare design because of its open petal-like formation] 186 [124. Very frigid altitude crystal having remarkably etched centre] 186 [125. A snow crystal covered with granular deposit of frost] 186 [126. Local-storm type] 190 [127. Cold high altitude] 190 [128. Germ or birth of ice crystal] 197 [129. Second stage in which crimps begin to appear] 197 [130. Third stage of development] 197 [131. Fourth stage flower-like shape beginning to show] 201 [132. Ice flower completed] 201 [133. Flower-like shape fully formed] 201 [134. Ice flower beginning to show shadings] 201 [135. Ice crystals growing downward into the brook] 205 [136. Group of ice crystals] 205 [137. Lance-like form seen pushing out from banks of brooks] 205 [138. Second stage of lance-like ice crystals] 206 [139. Lance-like form completed] 206 [140a. Freak ice crystals] 206 [140b. Group of ice crystals containing germs] 206 [141a. Coral-like branch showing the “feather type” in detail] 210 [141b. Window-pane ice] 210 [142. Beautiful type of window-ice growing like delicate seaweed] 214 [143. Window-pane ice] 214 [144. Another type of window-pane ice] 214 [145. An example of columnar ice] 218 [146. Columnar ice] 218 [147. Columnar ice, section shown in detail] 218 [148. Very great thunder-storm drops] 222 [149. Rain from cirro-stratus high clouds] 222 [150. Rain from low nimbus clouds] 222 [151. Thunder- and hail-storm type] 226 [152. From a great rain storm which lasted 15 hours] 226 [153. Thunder cloud] 230 [154. Nimbus or low stratus clouds] 230
WHEN THE DEW FALLS
3. Grass blade with dew deposit—three drops held in suspension on top of blade
4. Showing how sharp pointed grasses collect and retain the dew drops, while blunt or broken blades collect none
5. Grass-blade holding two drops—dew drop preparing to fall
6. Dew drops on grass blade; showing inverted landscape held in drop
CHAPTER I
WHEN THE DEW FALLS
“Everything shone with the dew drops that sparkling and trembling lay
Scattered to left and to right, and the webs of the spiders were hung
Thickly with pearls and diamonds; light in the wind they swung.”
One of the most interesting and instructive phenomena in the lessons of nature is the falling of the dew—a seeming miracle which begins with the setting of the sun, and goes on mysteriously, collecting and distributing its countless exquisite water jewels, all through the long stillness of the night, only to be dispelled again by the heat of the rising sun.
We are more or less familiar, through casual observation, with the varied beauties of the dew. A walk in the country or park, in the early midsummer morning, just after the sun has risen, if possible, will enable you fully to appreciate its charms; especially if the dewfall during the preceding night has been a copious one. Every bit of plant-life and vegetation will sparkle and twinkle in the early sunshine, hung and embellished with millions of glittering jewels. The very smallest grass blade, you will discover, has not been neglected by the Dew Fairy. And even the delicate, gossamer-like spider’s web swung from twig to twig or caught among the grasses, is dew laden, and an object of beauty well worthy of consideration.
7. Spider’s web entire: showing manner of collecting dew
8. Detail of spider’s web dew-laden. Observe the pearl-like strands.
Happy indeed are you, if you have enjoyed a stroll in an old-fashioned country flower garden in the early morning. No need to dwell upon its charms if you have enjoyed that pleasure, for you will long remember the refreshment and peace which came to you with the close companionship of the great pink, damask roses, their petals still heavy with the night dews; the tall, sentinel-like lilies, cool and fragrant, their cups filled with dewy nectar, which great blundering bees were eagerly plundering; clean-smelling phlox, waist-high, each velvet cluster moist and bent with its weight of dew. Then the beds of gray-green mignonette; and best of all, down in an out-of-the-way corner, a tangle of unobtrusive old-fashioned pinks, where you knelt and buried your face for a moment to inhale their spicy fragrance, and found them doubly sweet and satisfying after their drenching dew bath. While the beds of simples and humbler things, the sage and wormwood, with their silvery leaves heavy with dew, exhaled a pungent, aromatic odour as you brushed them in passing. For the dew had refreshed them and enhanced their dormant spiciness tenfold.
The phenomenon of the dew is simply explained, and well worthy of a short study as it is really a most important factor in nature’s laws. Simply explained, the dew is really an actual deposit of water from the atmosphere upon the surface of the earth, and is formed when the earth is sufficiently cooled during the night by radiation.
Upon a pleasant day during summer, especially if the sun shines brightly, much aqueous vapour or mist is held suspended in the air, and if the temperature at sunset falls below the dew point, that vapour can no longer be retained in suspension in the air, and falls to the earth. The dew is the vapour of the air. Sometimes it can readily be seen falling in a fine mist resembling rain. It is the humidity of the air deposited upon all surfaces of the earth with which it comes in contact. When the temperature falls below the dew point, or 32°, the dew then becomes converted into frost, and we have a deposit of hoar frost, instead of the dew. It has been remarked that horizontal and flat surfaces exposed to the dew receive a greater deposit than sheltered or oblique surfaces.
9. A dew-laden strawberry leaf with dew jewels set in each serration about the edges
10. Dew drop caught on vegetable hairs of mullein leaf
11. The sleeping caterpillar was a good subject and received a copious collection of dew
12. The surface of a leaf dew-covered
Dew has frequently been quoted as “A shower from heaven,” but this is not literally correct. True, it appears rather mysteriously from a clear sky, and upon a still, cloudless night covers thickly every blade of grass and plant life with seeming raindrops, and that frequently where rain clouds rarely appear, and the rain seldom falls. In such climates, where a rainfall is rare, it is certainly a most beneficial and wise provision, for it gathers upon all herbage and vegetation, in sparkling, refreshing profusion; while it avoids instinctively all barren rocky formations and all things which could not be benefited by its grateful cooling, moisture. Also, in cold, damp climates, where the air is continually saturated with moisture, and where an additional amount is not required, the gathering clouds and the dampness of the chilly atmosphere prevent a radiation of heat from the earth, and the dew never falls in such climates.
There are three requisites which appear to be essential for the formation of the dew: First, that the air should be moist; second, that the surface upon which it falls shall be cold, and third, that the sky be clear.
Of course the atmosphere always contains a greater amount of moisture after a rainfall, when the air has been greatly cooled. Evaporation is then continually going on among all objects lying near the surface of the earth. Blades of grass and all plants near the ground gradually cool and assume a lower temperature after sunset; they are preparing for the fall of the dew.
It has been remarked that certain plants possess greater powers of radiating heat and of expelling moisture through evaporative process than others; upon such plants the dew deposit is always more profuse, while those plants possessing less powers of radiation and evaporation, collect little dew.
13. Dew caught and held upon down of plant stem
14. Dew upon the down of a leaf
There are very many plants whose leaves are downy, with a thick growth of tiny vegetable hairs; the mullein leaf is a good example, its thick velvety leaves are thickly covered with this growth of vegetable down, and present a velvety surface; these leaves always collect a fine display of dew jewels. One has been caught by the camera, perched upon the down of a mullein leaf, as shown in the photographic illustration.
During still nights in early spring and fall, when there are no disturbing winds, the water molecules or dewdrops in countless numbers form one upon another, all night long, and settle upon blades of grass and all growing plants, and in the morning sunshine dance and sparkle in strings of scintillating diamonds from every pasture and hedge row.
The sharp-pointed grasses collect the dew very copiously and in a most interesting manner. Dewdrops formed upon the grass blades, it will be observed, are arranged in a truly wonderful symmetrical fashion, and one marvels at the orderly arrangement. Frequently one large dewdrop, clear as a diamond, is deposited upon the very tip of the little grass blade, sometimes two and even three large drops are held in suspension thus, while upon the extreme sharp edge of one or both sides of the blade a collection of small, bead-like drops cling in orderly, precise fashion, strung from tip to root of the grass blade. A broken or blunted blade of grass collects no dew, or very little. When the large dewdrop perched upon the tip of the grass blade decides to fall, it descends rather slowly at first, following the extreme edge of the blade in its course, and thus meets and collects all the other dewdrops which it encounters strung along the edge of the blade, until forming at last one heavy drop, it suddenly falls to earth, where it is instantly absorbed, and goes to give life and strength to the very roots of the plant.
17. Hoar frost deposit upon a stick. The butterflies have settled to rest
18. Dainty lace-like formation of hoar frost collected upon a straw
19. Winter tabular hoar frost resembling a group of butterflies
Cobwebs attract the dew in a rather singular manner. It is yet to be discovered why the dew forms only upon the horizontal threads of a spider’s web, while the vertical threads, though smaller, collect no dew deposit. This curious fact is well shown in the photograph of the entire spider’s web, also in the section of a web, showing the dew deposit in detail. Wonderfully beautiful are these dew-laden webs. It will be observed that each drop is similar in size, and closely resembles several strings of well-matched pearls, although in the sunshine they appear as clear, flashing diamonds. Certain leaves collect the dew drops in a novel manner, notably the strawberry leaf, and similar plants having serrate edges. The strawberry leaf, besides being plentifully decorated upon its surface with water beads, holds in each tiny serration about its edge a large, clear, sparkling dewdrop, which gives the leaf a wonderful jewelled effect.
We are all familiar with the so-called “sweating” of a glass or pitcher, or a metal pipe containing cold water; this is another phase of the dew, and may be observed in the daytime.
A cool night in spring or autumn, after a hot day, we usually receive a more copious fall of dew, which gradually increases as the night becomes cooler. Should clouds gather, the precipitation of the dew at once ceases. Wherever a bush or bit of vegetation overhangs a spot, it has a similar effect to that of a cloud, and the dew does not collect at all, or not as copiously, in that spot.
In the tropics, and in certain countries where there are no rain clouds; where they rarely have rain for many months at a time, the dewfall is so heavy that it quite supplies the lack of rainfall. If it were not for this providential visitation of the dew all vegetable life must certainly perish, scorched and withered by the torrid heat.
20. Like a piece of bleached coral. Hoar frost discovered under a building
21. Tabular hoar frost
22. Tree form tabular hoar frost: grew in zero weather
In the East, in the region of Palestine, the dew frequently is so heavy that it closely resembles rain. Upon the great burning deserts alone the dew never falls; for the moment the dew vapours or molecules encounter the scorching breath which arises from the face of these barren seas of sand, they evaporate and are redissolved, dissipated and consumed by the heat. So it will be seen that the fixed molecules which compose vegetation alone have the power to attract and arrest the water molecules of the air with which they come in contact, and thus form, in combination, the dew.
When the temperature is below 32°, the tiny particles which go to form the dew become hoar frost. It is often of great value to the farmer or vegetable grower to be able to know just the temperature of the dew point, because, if he discovers it in time, he is enabled to save his garden from a sudden blighting visitation of the frost.
Another interesting fact, and one which is known to few of us, but which may readily be seen, if we take time to study the dewdrop minutely is; that each tiny drop of dew is in itself a miniature mirror, for upon its clear, crystal-like surface it holds and faithfully portrays upon its rounded form the image of any near-by object. The picture is, of course, naturally inverted. But you will find it; a bit of blue sky holding a scrap of fleecy cloud, or a pigmy forest of trees caught and mirrored in the dewdrop. Often sleeping and dormant insects when caught out in the open during the night, receive a copious deposit of dew. The caterpillar shown in the photograph was a good subject, and quite a collection of dew was deposited upon his furry coat.
23. A Winter type of hoar frost
24. Columnar hoar frost upon a decaying log
25. Striking arrangement of hoar-frost crystals upon broken edge of ice, water showing beneath
Nature in all her moods, and they are many, is always entertaining and instructive, and perhaps one of her greatest marvels is that which takes place in the silence of the brooding night—the falling of the gentle dew.
26. Showing hoar-frost elaboration about the edge of a leaf
27. Hoar-frost deposit upon grass blades
THE COMING OF THE HOAR FROST
28. Moss-like hoar frost deposited upon surface of pond
29. Columnar hoar frost scattered over brook ice
CHAPTER II
THE COMING OF THE HOAR FROST
“Rustily creak the crickets;
Jack Frost came down last night—
He came on the wings of a star beam,
Cool and sparkling and bright;
He sought in the grass for the crickets
With delicate icy spear,
So sharp and so fine and so fatal,
And he stabbed them far and near.
Pray what have you done to the flowers?
Where hides the wood aster?
She vanished as snow wreathes dissolve in the sun
The moment you touched her.”
—Thaxter.
When autumn has reached the zenith of perfection, when the milkweeds and thistles which grow thick in the hedges have cast their gossamer, fairy-like seeds to the winds, and the goldenrod which flaunted its yellow banners so brightly through those last long, perfect days of dying autumn, has at last begun to fade, the first warning which we have of the approach of the frost is all at once seen in certain mysterious changes of colour which have taken place in the foliage of the trees. Then we know that upon that last still night, when the stars snapped and sparkled so brilliantly, and the air felt unusually keen and crisp, that the Hoar-frost Spirit must have been abroad, and in passing, touched all the trees and plants very lightly with his magic wand. Out in the garden the sturdy sunflowers droop their seed-filled crowns a trifle, while the hollyhocks seem to stand less primly and firmly, and lean together as though for support. They have felt the blighting touch of that magic wand. He touched also the tips of the maple leaves upon the hillside, and left upon some of them just a little dab of his crimson brushwork; they form a touch of brilliant colour against the darkly massed pines and hemlocks in the background. But shortly they will flame forth upon every hillside, one vast torch, lighted to do honour to the passing of autumn; and all the work of the Frost Spirit.
30. An odd hoar-frost formation
31. Detailed tabular hoar frost—grew slowly
32. Detailed tabular hoar-frost crystals
33. Cup form hoar frost
The little sour fox-grapes which grow in the hedge-rows, are now piquant in flavour, and have acquired something which they lacked before, and are pleasant to the taste since the hoar frost’s visit to them. The bitter-sweet berries which grow close beside them, tangled and twisted with the gray, fluffed-out clematis plumes, have burst their orange-coloured sheaths, and gleam more vividly than before. And the great green chestnut burs are bursting, just a trifle; they need one more, slightly sharper touch from the hoar frost, and then the plump, brown, satin-skinned nuts will come tumbling out of their burs to the ground. The eager squirrels have already begun to collect their winter supplies. They are early at work, even before the magical display created by the hoar frost has been touched by the sun. They mean to get ahead of the children in their nut gathering, if possible.
If you too, would rise with the squirrels, and go forth into the open fields and woods, you will be amply repaid for the small effort which it cost you, for the display which the delicate hoar frost makes upon a clear morning in early autumn, when first touched by the sunrise, is really fantastic and wonderfully beautiful.
If you happen to be in the country, direct your steps across the pasture lands, where the short thick grass is powdered heavily with the hoar frost, and do not fail to pause at the old, gray rail fence, leading into the cornfield, to study the fine effects, the magic work which the Frost Spirit has left there during the night. The withered brown shocks of corn, standing in suggestive, witch-like attitudes, scattered over the fields, each lance-like rustling blade tipped with a steely, glittering coat of frost; while between the leaning stacks gleam great golden pumpkins, as yet unharvested, each golden sphere gleaming through a bluish-white deposit of hoar frost, or frozen dew.
34a. Columnar hoar-frost crystals
34b. Columnar hoar frost (tabular)
Unquestionably, James Whitcomb Riley had in mind a similar scene when he was inspired to pen the homely lines so often quoted:
“When the frost is on the punkin,
And the fodder’s in the shock.”
The beauties and peculiarities of the hoar-frost crystals are a distinctly separate study in themselves, as they do not belong, nor are they classified with the heavier frosts of late and mid-winter, such as we find in the extreme cold weather deposited upon our window-panes and elsewhere.
The hoar frost is in reality the dew particles or molecules of water in the air, which, when the temperature falls below 32°, freezes and collects, and thus forms a deposit of hoar frost upon nearly all surfaces which it encounters.
Still another variety of hoar frost is that which forms mysteriously under some covering; occasionally we find it deposited upon a bit of wood which has lain under the snow; it forms upon the underside of the wood, or that part resting upon the ground, and is caused by the moisture of the earth, which collects, and which the temperature converts into crystals of hoar frost.
Special and interesting examples of hoar-frost formations are given in the photographic illustrations, which, being taken with a camera having a microscopic attachment are, for the most part, largely magnified. The detail and formation of the hoar-frost crystal is most delicate, and well worthy of study, and the curious manner in which some of them are found, also the many different shapes which they assume, clearly shows that each formation is possessed of certain individuality of structural form peculiar to its environments, and the surrounding objects to which it may attach itself.
35. Linear window-pane frost. A common type
36. Showing initials crudely scratched upon glass, which frost has elaborated
An especially interesting type of crystal is that which grows in queer needle-like layers, somewhat suggestive of tiny stalactite growths; this variety we frequently discover in gravelly or peaty soil, while it sometimes raises and supports upon its points large sections of earth and stones.
These needle-like columnar formations, which are excellently portrayed in the illustrations, are often found from two to six inches in height, and are formed from the moisture which rises from the warm soil and freezes. These columnar crystals do not form in this manner in the extremely cold weather, or after the ground has become solidly frozen to a certain depth; therefore they may be classed among the hoar-frost formations of early autumn.
As shown in detail in the photographs, the formation of each section of this type of hoar-frost crystal appears as a prism-like columnar growth, the base of the prism being hexagonal in shape, and closely resembling an unset jewel.
Through the still, cool nights in autumn the Hoar-frost Fairy works steadily, covering vegetation with glittering frost-work, touching all unsightly places, decaying woods, old gray fence-rails lightly in passing, and upon the following morning, if you are fortunately stirring before the sun ruins the best work of the hoar frost, you will discover many wonderful works of art. Sometimes it will be a miniature, scintillating forest of needle-like crystals attaching itself to some old rail. Again a perfectly marvellous collection which you may find deposited upon a board; tiny tabular ice crystals of hoar frost closely resembling a flight of white butterflies or moths powdered over its flat surface. We were fortunately able to secure one of this type; and with the aid of a small pocket microscope, you may be able to discover this pleasing variety, as shown in our photograph. The same variety of hoar frost was again encountered, where the delicate crystals had formed and grouped themselves upon a stick or straw; this is wonderfully suggestive of a group of butterflies resting upon a flower-stalk, as we frequently observe them in mid-summer, where flights of the yellow wayside butterflies assemble upon a mullein-stalk in precisely the same fashion.
37. An exquisite lace pattern in frost
The showy illustration resembling in formation a branch of bleached coral, is another interesting example of the hoar frost’s eccentric development, and was found clinging to a decaying beam, under an old building.
The beautiful feathery spray, somewhat resembling a miniature fir tree, was taken from the branch of a tree, about which it had formed, and is made up of countless, lace-like, filmy ice prisms, of infinite delicacy.
Much is lost in the scintillating iridescence of these frail hoar-frost crystals when seen merely in the photographs, for they frequently show rare colour effects when seen in the open.
That the hoar frost sometimes takes strange freaks is shown in the exquisitely beautiful deposits occasionally found upon the edges of a piece of broken ice. Sometimes you will discover it upon the thin, new ice which forms upon small streams in the early autumn, and in gullies beside the road. This ice is short-lived, and readily breaks at the slightest touch, with the crackling sound of broken glass. A section of this thin ice is shown, about the ragged edge of which the hoar frost has arranged itself in fantastic fashion. The dark waters of the brook may be seen through the opening.
38. A beautiful example of two distinct types.
39. Fern-like scrolls, delicate background.
Hoar frost which gathers upon the grass blades, unlike the deposit of the dew, does not form noticeably upon the tips of the blades; on the contrary, the hoar frost gathers in an apparently greater and heavier degree the nearer to the earth it approaches. Flat-leaved, low-growing plants are usually well covered with hoar-frost crystals, while about the edges of certain leaves a heavy decoration of film-like crystals is sometimes seen.
Frequently upon a pond of frozen water we come across a queer moss-like fungus deposit scattered at intervals over the surface of the ice. This is still another type of hoar-frost formation. Still another is the columnar frost crystal, which is formed of clusters of needles, and these loose, needle-like formations we frequently find scattered over the surface of thin brook ice.
During your rambles in the autumn, after the arrival of the hoar frost, it would prove a pastime as well as an instructive nature study, to search out and locate the many different varieties of hoar frost. Be sure to take a small pocket microscope or reading lens with you. Search diligently in unexpected places, beneath blocks of wood, about decaying logs and old tree stumps, for in all sorts of out of the way places you will encounter them. Under the edge of a stone, imbedded even in the snow, and scattered over the surface of frozen pond and brook. The Frost Spirit seeks all sorts of strange nooks and crannies in which to deposit its fascinating mushroom growths.
Nature has in store for us many strange, agreeable surprises. Among them there is much to be discovered and learned about these delicate fantastic creations deposited by the Hoar-frost Spirit.
40. A perfect fern leaf
41. Raised fern-like arrangement
42. Showing in detail granular frost drawing away from true frost crystals
ETCHINGS BY JACK FROST
43. Graceful feathers with curling ends
44. Strikingly beautiful example. Evergreen twigs shooting out into clear glass
CHAPTER III
ETCHINGS BY JACK FROST
“When icicles hang by the wall,
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail.”
—Shakespeare.
In zero weather, in mid-winter, when the earth is frozen to a great depth below the surface, when in driving over the unpaved country roads they give forth a hard metallic ring; when the trees are all stripped of their coverings, with the exception of a few forlorn brown leaves, which cling tenaciously to the skeleton branches, which crack and sway in the chilly blasts; then indeed we may be fully assured that nature has utterly succumbed to the advances of the Frost King, and that “Jack Frost” himself has arrived in earnest.
How he tweaks and nips exposed ears and noses, and how they tingle and ache because of his stinging caress. Jack Frost, we read, is “the very personification of frost and cold.” All of us are more or less familiar with the mischievous pranks of Jack Frost, and they are quite separate and apart from those of the gentle white hoar frost, which is frequently seen early in autumn, upon the first still, cool mornings.
“Jack Frost,” as the great Frost Spirit is familiarly known the world over, is a most important, if rather mythical personage, and very few of us are really familiar with the works which he creates in his more serious moods, and the really wonderful methods which he displays. For, with all his mischief-making, he finds abundant opportunity to work out and display much really fine artistic ability in his choice etchings and decorative schemes.
45. One of Jack Frost’s masterpieces
46. A mass of feathers scattered upon glass
The night time seems to be most favourable for the finest efforts of Jack Frost; usually in mid-winter or early spring. He prefers to select a still, cold night, zero weather, for his best out-of-door display, but it is usually in the coldest winter weather that he applies his very choicest designs upon the glass of our windows, and just how charming and interesting they are, you may judge by the photographed designs herein shown.
Upon a still moonlit night, when Jack Frost is astir, if you chance to be out of doors, especially in the open country, you will be made aware of his presence in many ways besides the tingling of your ears. Suddenly a sharp mysterious report will occur in the forest, and a great tree trunk is cleft mysteriously in twain. Again an ominous cracking, as loud as a rifle report comes from the still ice-covered pond. It is merely Jack Frost indulging in a bit of rifle-practice.
That barren field, brown and unattractive by daylight, how it glistens and scintillates as the moonlight floods it. All last summer’s withered seed pods and grasses; the fluffed-out goldenrod, and many others are rejuvenated and hung with sparkling, pendent ropes of jewels, all the creation and work of the Frost Spirit, who has simply paused to caress them with his icy breath, in passing, and lo, they are beautiful. Later, when the morning sun touches them, they all, like Cinderella, are shorn of their finery, and become as before, just mere commonplace, brown and withered seed pods again. But with infinite patience, as soon as it is twilight the following night, the Frost Spirit steals forth again and restores once more his magic, fantastic pictures by the rays of the wintry moonlight.
47. Sometimes Jack Frost sketches oak leaves
48. Detail of frost crystals largely magnified
The heavy frosts are a recognised and most important factor in creating remarkable changes in rocky formations of the earth’s surface. Large masses of rock are constantly being split and reconstructed by its mighty blasting powers, and great sections of solid material are converted in the same manner into soil by the secret action of the frost, which works continually with the other elements of heat and water to effect these changes. These powerful agents working year after year cause vast and important changes to occur in the formation of mountains and valleys. So great is the power of frost, that it has frequently been utilised in blasting; when water being poured into the crevice of a great rock, and allowed to freeze, the rock was readily split, as desired.
All vegetation succumbs readily to the withering blight of the frost with the exception of the evergreen varieties. The cause for this is, that the juices of plants naturally expand when touched by the frost, and at last burst, which destroys the vesicles or life of the plant, which soon blackens and dies. Of all the pranks in which Jack Frost indulges, his wholesale destruction of the beautiful flowers and plants is the greatest to be deplored. But with all the marvellous works of the mighty Frost Spirit, nothing is quite so fascinating and interesting as the curious phenomena or frost formations which he creates and deposits upon the window-panes in mid-winter. Jack Frost is a finished artist, I assure you, and his etchings are dainty and attractive beyond words.
If you have entered an unlighted room, and seen the moonlight filtering palely through a frost-etched window; then you know its charm. How it glittered and sparkled, the delicate frostwork. You were attracted no doubt and marvelled at the dainty tracings, but few of us have really had an opportunity to study the detail of these frost designs minutely, or have considered that there were more than three or four designs at most.
49. Twigs and leaves
50. Branch-like arrangement of twigs and delicate fern-like leaves
It is only quite recently, in fact, that the beautiful etchings of Jack Frost have been classified and photographed in all their perfection. Happily this has now been accomplished, by the aid of a compound photographic camera, and it opens up a new and fascinating field to the camera expert as well as to the student of frost crystals. Marvellous indeed is the variety and detail displayed in these attractive window-pane etchings furnished by the Frost Spirit, and if one is housed some day, in mid-winter, zero weather, one may watch the entire growth and development of these exquisite frost etchings from start to finish.
To do this, place a lamp or candle before a frost-covered window, in a cold room, or unheated by furnace, of course not near enough to the glass to crack it, but just close enough to melt the heavy frost curtain which may have formed previously upon the glass. After this has been allowed to dissolve gradually, you will observe a thin water film or formation which has been left upon the outer edge of the glass, the centre of which will be clear. Do not disturb this film, for it is in part from this that the frost crystallisations form and develop.
As soon as you move the lamp away from the glass, the pictures instantly begin to grow and develop. Delicate, feathery etchings of ice crystals first appearing around the outer edge of the water film, and according to the temperature of the room, form rapidly or slowly. Exquisite tracings, and fern-like leaves shoot out as by magic toward the centre of the glass, but as soon as they reach a dry place upon the glass, they instantly cease. If you observe very closely, you will discover that meanwhile, in the little open spaces, between the bolder fern-like designs, more delicate feathery forms are gradually appearing, formations which sometimes resemble fine coral branches. As soon as the water-film ice crystallisations are completed they are closely followed by the true frost crystals, which form upon the various dry places upon the glass, delicate lines and stars and also in a thin, dew-like deposit, which rapidly freezes, and assumes a granular, snow-like form. This granular frost develops very rapidly, and soon covers all the unoccupied, clear, dry places; but one curious fact worthy of observation: it does not intrude upon, or approach near to the separate and individual designs or masterpieces, of the frost already formed upon the glass, but rather draws away from their immediate vicinity. This strange habit of the granular frost is well shown in the photographed illustration, where it will be observed that the granular frost acts merely as a background or sky effect for the real frost pictures, as in a painting.
51. Moss-like arrangement of frost
52. Twin freaks
Classified, there are about ten distinct types of the window-pane frost. Representatives of each and all types never appear at any given time upon one window; and strangely enough the designs are never precisely alike on any two panes of glass. Reduplications of any previous design are extremely rare, and would only occur when a multitude of identical conditions occur.
This is rather singular, when we consider the different factors which go to form the window-pane frost. Certain panes of glass vary in thickness and in surface topography, also in the arrangement of minute, invisible scratches, and the accumulation of dust particles which collect from day to day, all of which affect the arrangement and collection of the frost crystals. It has been observed that double windows and furnace-heated apartments are not favourable to frost formations; but in rooms which are allowed to cool off at night, and in rural dwelling houses which are not heated by steam or furnace the Frost Spirit loves to work, and decorates their windows with his choicest etchings.
53. An unusual design
54. A powdering of small flowers
The beautiful frost studies illustrating this chapter were photographed in northern Vermont, where the winters are long and the cold very intense; affording the very best opportunities possible for the development and study of the frost etchings. These studies are, of course, somewhat magnified, yet you will have no difficulty in recognising many familiar frost designs.
[No. 35] is a linear type, and of rather common occurrence, easily recognisable.
In [No. 36] the photographer scratched his initials crudely upon the window-pane; instantly Jack Frost began to elaborate the crude work, with much better effect.
[No. 37] is easily suggestive of a strip of very costly hand-made lace.
[No. 38] is a very beautiful arrangement showing two distinct types of window-pane frost. Observe how each type never intrudes upon another. The white fern-like type is raised from the glass, and was formed in a very cold room where it slowly developed and grew for days.
[No. 39] is another striking arrangement of the two types; observe the very delicate fleecy patterns of the frost which forms a background for the fern-like scrolls.
[No. 40] shows a perfectly developed fern; while in [No. 41] we have a strikingly beautiful example of a group of ferns; this type is heavily laid upon the glass, and develops in zero weather.
[No. 42] shows very clearly, in detail, the granular formation of the frost which has drawn away from the true frost crystals forming in detached places, in order to give them room to complete their elaborate patterns.
[No. 43] shows an extremely graceful feather effect, with beautifully curved scroll like tips.
[No. 44] is a very striking arrangement of window frost, showing exquisitely arranged branches, resembling evergreens, shooting out into the clear spaces upon the glass.
55. A maple leaf etching
56. Find the frost spider
[No. 45]. One of the most beautiful and striking masterpieces of Jack Frost.
[No. 46]. Singularly suggestive of a mass of white feathers thrown loosely upon the glass.
[No. 47]. Another masterpiece from the brush of the Frost Spirit, a perfect oak-leaf design.
[No. 48]. This is a largely magnified specimen of window-pane frost, showing examples of frost crystals greatly magnified and in detail.
[No. 49]. Another arrangement of leaves, showing also branch-like twigs.
[No. 50]. A very delicate pattern. Note the perfectly formed leaf design with its delicate background of feathery tendrils.
[No. 51]. A remarkably fine feathery design.
[No. 52]. Two very freakish specimens of frost etchings. Suggesting somewhat the artificial “flies” used by fishermen.
[No. 53]. Like a delicate bit of seaweed.
[No. 54]. Like a delicate powdering of small flowers, scattered over the window-pane.
[No. 55]. Perfectly formed leaf designs.
[No. 56]. A design worthy of study. Find the spider.
[No. 57]. Two types. Suggesting gray moss clinging to rocks.
[No. 58]. A very rare design. An almost perfect spider’s web, formed of thick, granular frost, with beautiful moss-like ornamentation in lighter design.
[No. 59]. One of the choicest and most delicate designs photographed which might have formed in the ocean instead of upon a window-pane. [No. 60]: this beautiful etching was made in northern Vermont, and is very like a white forest of fir trees.
57. Two distinct types of window pane frost
58. Curious design suggesting spider web, with moss-like ornamentation
MYSTERIES AND BEAUTIES OF THE SNOW
59. One of the choicest designs of window frost. A perfect specimen of a certain type of delicate seaweed
60. A design of frost work from “the land of the pointed firs”
CHAPTER IV
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!
61. Blizzard type
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.
63. Solid, big storm type
64. A very symmetrical crystal
65. High altitude crystal
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.
68. Air inclusions unusually clear
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.
70. Local storm crystal
71. Freak trigonal crystal
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.