Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/500

* HAIDUKS. 448 HAIL COLUMBIA. iintil prohibited by royal ordinance, in 1779, from bearing this mark of military rank. Consult Rosen, Die Balhankuiduken (Leipzig, 1878). HAIL (AS. luigol, leel. hagl, OHG. hagal, Ger. Eagvl, hail; probably connected with Gk. (ca,v/'«, kucldex, pebble). Komid, compact masses of ice that fall from the clouds to the earth, usually with rain. Wlien these masses are as large as one-quarter of an inch in diameter or larger they are often spoken of as hailstones ; when they are quite small and perhaps accompanied by rain they are known as .sleet. Hailstones occur of all sizes from a quarter of an inch in diameter up to three indies in diameter; usually com- paratively few hailstones fall at any one place, but cases are recorded in which the ground has been covered to a depth of several inches, and al! vegetable life destroyed. The larger hail- stoneshave a rather complex structure, oeing mostly composed of concentric layers of solid transparent ice and snowy-white or soft ice. In most cases the larger stones have a nucleus, which is either ? foreign substance, such as a bit of gravel or a small pebble, or some larger object, such as those that are carried up froui the earth by tornadic winds; or the centre is composed of a mass of snow, in whose interstices is held some gas, presumably air or oxygen, powerfully comi)ressed within the central cavity. When this cavity is opened under water the inclosed gas is seen to expand, and, according to Jaentr, the gas seems to 'be held therein under a pressure of as nmch as fifty atmospheres. The external surface of a hailstone is some- times of beautiful regularity, as though it had grown by accretion of small particles during a slow and steady motion through the atmosphere, but this regularity is quite rare, ilore frequently the larger stones are irregular aggregations of masses of ice; of course, however, such masses may have their sliapes greatly altered when they strike the ground. The largest stones whose records are trustworthy have not exceeded two pounds in weight. Stones of two and three inches in diameter, weiglimg twelve and sixteen ounces, occur annually in Europe, India, and America. See the Monthly Weathe)- lieview for August, 1878. A hail-storm is usually characterized by the formation of very high cumulus clouds, strong surface winds, considerable lightning and thun- der, and heavy rain. It appears possible that hail may be formed either in the front of an advancing cool wave or in connection with a local thunder-storm or tornado. The former gives u? the smaller hail and sleet; the latter gives us the larger and destructive hailstones. In the latter case it is quite connnon for the area of destructive hail to cover lung, narrow strips of country as though it belonged on one side of the path of progression of some special cloud or vortex. ■. Protection against hail has been sought from time immemorial by different methods character- ized by the gradual progress of our knowledge as to how hail is formed. In most ancient days the church bells were riuig and the saints invoked. The lightning-rod is called paragrele in France, but there is no evidence that it protects from hail. In recent years the belief and practice of the peasants of Styria and Northern Italy ha.s spread through Austria and Southern France to the effect that a special form of cannonading may, by bombarding the clouds, prevent hail, the theory being that if hail is formed by a process of crystallization in still air, then the cannonading bj' disturbing the stillness would prevent the hail. But all these ideas are delusions, and the bombardment has no appreciable effect upon the hail-storms. The most rational method of conn tcracting the injury done by hail is by adopting a method of bail insurance bj' which the losses of a few persons are distributed among many. The total amount of damage done by hail and liglit- ning is summed up statistically in the annual reports of the Chief of the Weather Bureau and in the special reports in the Monthly Weather Review. In the Ignited States in 1899 there were 56.3 persons killed and projierty valued at $4,000,000 ( ? ) was destroyed. The method of formation of hail is as yet but little' understood. It seems to be demonstrated that when a rising mass of air cools to the dew- point and below, it begins to form a cloud; as it continues to ascend, it cools to a temperature where hail is formed or rather hail and rain simultaneously. Higher than this it cools to a temperature where snow is formed. The ordinary hail may be formed in the second region, but the large hailstones of complex structure must have been carried up and down many times from the rain region to the snow region forward and liackward until they become too large and lieay ti: be held up any longer. In accordance with these ideas it is found that a very large propor- tion of the destructive hail occurs between ten A.M. and four p.m., and a very small proportion between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m. See Von Bezohl. Thermodifiianiics of the Atmosphere (originally published at Berlin, 1888 and 1889; translated in full in Abbe, Mechanics of the Earth, Wash- ington, 1891); Ferrel, Recent Advances in Me- teorology (Washing-ton, 1886). In tiie Monthly Weather Reriew for Septem- ber, 1900, is given a table showing the annual frequency of hail-storms for a unit area of one hundred miles square, as derived from the rec- ords of each State in the Union. This table is as follows: Alabama 3.9G .ri7,ona 1.^9 Arkansas B.08 California S..^ Colorado 6.92 Florida 2.10 Ceorgia 3.39 Idaho 4.20 Illinois ■.. 8.44 Indiana 9.R4 Indian Territory 2.58 Iowa ; 8.44 Kansas ;.;. ..::.!: 6.28 Kentucky.. .^..,j.,i.i 7.16 Louisiana ....,..;■ 6.04 Maine .....J.' 1.84 Mieliigan 6. 64 Minnesota 4.48 Mississippi....,,,., 4.62 Missouri ......'.'..7.;...; 8.78 Montana. ...;.':.'.*;.. J l.TS "'In' addition to the preceding, records made in the States of Connecticut. Rhode Island. Massa- chusetts, Maryland, Pelaware, and in the District of Columbia, "may be summed uji into one aver- age — i.e. 3.0 per cent. HAIL COLUMBIA. A song written in 1798 by Josejih Hopkinson for the benefit of a young Nebraska 5.78 Nevada 2.62 New Hampshire 2.6S New Mexioo 1.98 New York 6..10 North Carolina 6.22 North Dakota 3.82 Ohio 10.74 Olclahoma 3.74 Oregon 4.30 Pennsylvania 6.18 South Carolina 6.72 South Dakota 4.06 Tennessee 5.70 Texas 1.44 rtah 3.06 Vermont 6.40 Virginia 6,36 West Virginia 7.94 Wisconsin 6.28 AVyoming 1.16