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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._
LITTLE STUDIES OF DEW, FROST, SNOW, ICE AND RAIN
ILLUSTRATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BY WILSON A. BENTLEY
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
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.
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
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 34_a_. Columnar hoar-frost crystals 45 34_b_. 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.