additional points upon which it was desirable that information should be obtained. In reply I received another letter from Dr. Hoyt accompanied by documents such as I had suggested. The following is extracted from his reply.

As yet I have been unable to substantiate the weight of a hailstone at 20 ounces; yet throughout the town of Warren the impression prevails that one was so weighed. The enclosed affidavit of Mr. Libby, and statement of Mr. Flanders fixes the extreme weight of two stones weighed by them at 17 and 18 ounces; with the firm belief of Mr. Libby that had he weighed them at the time of falling, their weight would have been increased some two or three ounces.

"I have the names of som ty three other individuals who weighed several stones of a pound weight,-others were weighed weighing three fourths of a pound. Oue several hours after the storm weighed 14 ounces. A tin pail full containing fifteen, weighed 10 poureds--four collectively weighed the unds, etc. pear to some, they a. cts which f evidence.

แ

as well as the

bove may

c. The amount of ice which fell r. Flanders thinks that in lall was about four inches, and

Benton the avenge & pa. C from enquiry along the track or to storm, I should judge that he is not far from right in his estimate. The extreme width of the hail was about two miles, and the length over a cultivated district perhaps al out five or six miles. How far east it extended I have no means of knowing, as it entered a forest of many miles in width. The largest hail stones fell near the edge or skirts of its track; the thickest and greatest amount or depth of hail fell in the centre. Although the sun came out "boiling hot" as one man expressed it, after the shower, still the hail remained on the ground in many places until the next day. An owner of a saw mill, on the stream of water which has its source in the forests over which the shower passed, told me that the water kept swollen for two or three days, when from common showers of ran it would have fallen in twenty-four hours. This he attributed to the gradual melting of so large a quantity of ice in the woods. I think there was but little if any difference in the distribution of the large stones along the track, as the two whose weights are given by Mr. Flanders and Mr. Libby were picked up about five miles apart, and near the extremes of its track before it entered the forest. On the orders or skirts of the cloud the large stones fell scattering, and as it approached the centre it was as if the whole contents of the cloud were let down in ice. During the time of the hail, which lasted some twenty or thirty minutes, there was but little rain; alter the hail it rained briskly for ten or fcen

minutes.

"Shape of the hail.-In Benton at the commencement of the hail, the masses were angular, having a resemblance to broken ice; while further along the track they assumed a smoother and more uniform surface, being oval or oblong. In many instances the surface is described as being notched or scolloped; and in some few as being covered with icy spikes, like icicles somewhat resembling a burr. It is the opinion of those who examined these stones the most minutely, that they were not formed by the union of several masses, but were distinct and individual in formation. They were compact and very solid; so hard that they might be thrown with great force against a house and not be broken.

"Velocity.-All agree that the hail fell with great velocity and force. Mr. E. W. Cleasby, a very correct and veracious man, whose statement is appended to this letter, says that hail stones very solid and weighing in the vicinity of 10 or 12 ounces, a raging one on about every two feet, fell in a piece of unmowed ass. In their passage through the grass they entangled it so as to cry it imbedded into the sward ground to the depth of some two or three inches, and after the melting of the hail, left the turf full of holes like little bird's nests. These holes remained through the season. As a test of the force necessary to effect this, he repeatedly with a p.tch fork handle having a rounded head, tried to strike it into the ground to an equal depth, and was unable to do it.

"Many of the Da us in this neighborhood have their roofs covered with what are styled 'long shingles-that is with spruce shingles without previous boarding. Whenever these large stones fell upon such roofs, they broke a hole completely through; and one man having sought refuge in a barn under such circumstances, was obliged to hide under the scaffold. The marks and bruises upon the buildings caused by the hail are still to be seen. Says one person, 'they looked like little pumpkins falling.' The roar and rattle of the hail was distinctly heard at the village in Warren, a distance of four or five miles, and was likened to the noise of a heavy train of cars.

"Wind.-During the storm there was but little wind. The hail fell nearly perpendicularly. The general bearing of the wind as appears from my weather table on that day, was westsouth-west; and the direction of the shower was in correspondence with this.

"Heat.-No record of the heat was kept in the neighborhood. of the storm. My thermometer at 2 o'clock, P. M., indicated 76 degrees. I very well recollect that after witnessing the passage of this cloud to the north, the sun broke out very hot and scorching. Such also is the testimony of people living there.

"You ask if it was possible that the larger stones could have been formed by the cementing or freezing together of several while lying on the ground? I should think it impossible that such could be the case. Furthermore the general opinion among the inhabitants is that each stone was a unit in formation."

The following is a copy of the affidavit of Mr. Libby already referred to.

Warren, N. H., Aug. 24, 1853.

I live in Warren and witnessed the hail storm on the 13th of August 1851, between the hours of one and two o'clock, P. M. I weighed a number of the hail stones which fell at that time, but not until after the shower had ceased-perhaps an hour and a half or two hours after. During this time it was very hot. The largest which I weighed was 174 ounces in weight. The others varied in the vicinity of a pound. I am fully in the belief that had they been weighed at the time of falling, their weight would have been some two or three ounces more. Previous to weighing them I washed the dirt from them in water. They were very irregular in shape, somewhat scolloped, with ice projections from their surface. I picked these stones up from soft ploughed ground where they were imbedded more than half their size in the ground. During the time that the hail was falling there was but little rain, with little or no wind. After the hail there was a warm rain of some ten or fifteen minutes duration. JOHN LIBBY.

Sworn to before me, JESSE LITTLE, Justice of the Peace. The following is the statement of Mr. Flanders already referred to.

Wentworth, Aug. 30, 1853.

I live in Benton, N. H., County of Grafton, and resided there at the time of the hail storm on the 13th of August, 1851. I weighed a number of the hail stones after the rain was over. The heaviest one weighed 18 ounces; the others ranged in the vicinity of a pound. They were very irregular in shape-some nearly square-some scolloped-some angular as if made up of several pieces. According to my best judgment there was an average depth of four inches of hail which fell at that time.

GRANVILLE E. FLANDERS.

The following is the statement of Mr. Cleasby.

Warren, N. H., Sept. 3, 1853.

This certifies that several of the hail stones which fell here on the 13th of August, 1851, were measured by members of my family. According to my best recollection the circumference of the largest was fourteen inches one way and nine the other. Their form was very generally oval. EZRA W. CLEASBY.

The preceding evidence satisfies me that hail stones fell in New Hampshire on the 13th of August, 1851, weighing more than one pound; and I do not know of any satisfactory evidence that hail of equal size has ever been seen in any other part of the world.

Hail Storm at Montrose, Iowa, on the Mississippi River, in Lat. 40° 30', about the middle of June, 1838.

The following notice of this storm is derived from a letter received from Mr. D. W. Kilbourne, who resided at Montrose in 1838, but now lives at Keokuk, twelve miles below Montrose.

"About four o'clock in the afternoon, a very heavy black cloud rose in the northwest, the wind at the time blowing strong from that quarter. There was much thunder and lightning; at the same time it was clear in the east and southeast.

Very soon however the whole sky seemed to be covered by clouds; there was a heavy mist, and it was almost as dark as night. Rain immediately followed, and for a few moments fell in torrents. Then hail stones began to fall. At first they were small and excited no surprise in myself or family; but they continued to increase in quantity and size to such an extent as to excite not only our wonder but our fears. The hail storm continued nearly ten minutes, and during all the time small and large hail fell together. The wind was high.

The largest There were a

As soon as the storm abated so that it was safe to go out, my family were all engaged in picking up the stones. We then selected the largest and measured their circumference. one found measured ten and one-fourth inches. large number that measured from two to ten inches in circumference. I gathered up with my own hands in one spot on the grass without moving, a half bushel measure full.

Mrs. Kilbourne placed several of the largest ones upon the top of common sized glass tumblers, and when melted they filled the tumblers so that some of them could not be moved without spilling the water.

The hailstones were irregular in their formation, and presented very much the appearance of rock-candy. The ice was solid and transparent. We did not weigh them.

The hail fell only about half a mile in width, and not more than two miles in length from west to east. No hail fell on the east side of the river. But few white families resided in the neighborhood at that time, or in the county; and I do not believe the hail stones were particularly noticed or measured except at our house."

ART. V.-Description of a Tertiary Rainbow; by CHARLES HARTWELL.*

On the 28th of July, 1851, the writer observed, from the Theological Seminary, in South Windsor, Conn., what he judged to be a Tertiary Rainbow. After a heavy shower, and a little before sunset, the sun appeared, painting on the dark clouds in the east a beautiful primary bow. At the same time an appearance of decomposed light was seen in the N. W., upon a cloud of not very large dimensions, but from which rain was evidently falling. To the S. W., also, upon clouds somewhat separated, decomposed light was visible.

The appearance north of the sun was very bright, though in it were observed only the various shades of red and orange. It extended, according to my judgment, a degree or more in horizontal width, and from five to ten degrees upward. To the south the phenomenon was less brilliant, less in width, but distinctly traceable for some fifteen degrees from the horizon. Had these phenomena appeared in the east, no one would have doubted but that they constituted the two ends of a rainbow. The curvature of the colored light, and the correspondence in position, would have been sufficient proof. But as they were seen in the west, on the side with the sun, and tertiary bows are very rarely seen, it may be necessary to give the reasons which convinced me that I had really seen one. The phenomenon to the north was first observed, and filled the beholder with astonishment. What this appearance could be, so much more brilliant than ordinary views of the sun's shining on clouds, and then, too, not on the edge but near the middle while the rest appeared as clouds ordinarily do, at the same time no reason being manifest from the position of the cloud and sun and the state of the intermediate heavens why the sun should shine on that part rather than another, not a little puzzled him.

On going to another window, the phenomenon to the south was seen. From its greater length, curved form, and its position on the opposite side of the sun, the conclusion was immediately drawn that they were the two ends of a rainbow. Recalling some instructions of my former teacher, Prof. Snell, of Amherst

* Messrs. Editors. The accompanying paper was prepared by Rev. Charles Hartwell, now connected with the mission in China, to be read at the meeting of the American Association in Albany, 1851. Being unable to attend himself, he sent it by a friend, who was, however, obliged to leave before the day assigned for its reading. Ill-health and pressing engagements prevented his giving further attention to it, till he was on his voyage to China; when, lighting upon the notes, he transmitted them to me, to be disposed of as I should think best. Though more than two years have elapsed since the phenomenon herein described was observed, I think the account of it ought, even now, to find a place in some public record. Yours truly, E. S. SNELL

Amherst College, Nov. 11th, 1853.