Shaking still water that is cold enough to freeze but hasn't frozen makes the crystal fairies get very busy in their ice factories. And it looks very much as if the fairies themselves warmed up with their work; for, after this shaking, the temperature of the water rises ten degrees at the very same time it is freezing!
You will also find that when the weather is cold enough ice itself freezes, gets harder and harder with the cold; that ice will melt ice; that two blocks of ice will grow into one if you give them a chance; that ice crystals are apt to be born twins; that these twin crystals are fond of gardening—at least, they raise "ice flowers"; that the ice crystals are so punctual in their coming and going in water that they are used to help place the markings on thermometers just right, so that we can tell exactly how cold or hot we are.
All this just about the crystals of the ice, but the work of the crystal people in making snowflakes is even more wonderful. In the bound volumes of St. Nicholas for March, 1882, in your Public Library you will find a most interesting account of a man in Vermont who began studying snowflakes and taking their pictures when he was a boy. He's known all over the world as the great authority on snowflakes. In the Encyclopedia Americana you will find a long article by him in which he tells the many interesting things he has learned about the ways of the fairies of the snow And how many pictures do you suppose he has in his snowflake gallery now? Over a thousand, and no two alike!
Just to think! Some of these wonderful little people of the fairyland of change sit at the table with us at every meal—the sugar crystals. And they are among the most interesting members of the family. Under the word Sugar you will find that the sugar crystals themselves eat and grow. But what do you suppose they eat? Not sugar. (You may easily guess, however, they have a sweet tooth.)
Yes, and at their home table, before they come to your home table, they have their regular meals, and they are not allowed a second helping until they have eaten the first!
Answers to Conundrums in H. & S. No. 4
The east and west rivers in California were there before the mountains rose and so cut their way through; while the north and south rivers between the ranges owe their origin to the mountains themselves.
The big twin river referred to is the Euphrates.
The greatest falls in the world are the Victoria Falls on the Zambesi.