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.