A curious instance of the fall of large hail, or rather ice-masses, occurred on one of her Majesty’s ships off the Cape in January, 1860. Here the stones were the size of half-bricks, and beat several of the crew off the rigging, doing serious injury. We may conclude by a description (taken from _Mem. de l’Acad. des Sciences_, 1790) of one of the most disastrous hailstorms that has occurred in Europe for many years back. This storm passed over Holland and France in July, 1788. It traveled _simultaneously_ along two lines nearly parallel--the eastern one had a breadth of from half a league to five leagues, the western of from three to five leagues. The space between was visited only by heavy rain; its breadth varied from three to five and a half leagues. At the outer border of each, there was also heavy rain, but we are not told how far it extended. The length was at least a hundred leagues; but from other reports it may be gathered that it really extended to nearly two hundred. It seems to have originated near the Pyrenees, and to have traveled at a mean rate of about sixteen and a half leagues per hour toward the Baltic, where it was lost sight of. The hail only fell for about seven and a half minutes at any one place. The hailstones were generally of irregular form, the heaviest weighing about eight French ounces. This storm devastated 1,039 parishes in France alone, and the damage was officially placed at 24,690,000 francs. For any assigned temperature of the atmosphere, there is a certain quantity of aqueous vapor which it is capable of holding in suspension at a given pressure. Conversely, for any assigned quantity of aqueous vapor held in suspension in the atmosphere, there is a minimum temperature at which it can remain so suspended. This minimum temperature is called the dew-point. During the daytime, especially if there has been sunshine, a good deal of aqueous vapor is taken into suspension in the atmosphere. If the temperature in the evening now falls below the dew-point, which after a hot and calm day generally takes place about sunset, the vapor which can be no longer held in suspension is deposited on the surface of the earth, sometimes to be seen visibly falling in a fine mist. This is one form of the phenomenon of dew, but there is another. The surface of the earth, and all things on it, and especially the smooth surfaces of vegetable productions, are constantly parting with their heat by radiation. If the sky is covered with clouds, the radiation sent back from the clouds nearly supplies an equivalent for the heat thus parted with; but if the sky be clear, no equivalent is supplied, and the surface of the earth and things growing on it become colder than the atmosphere.