philosophy, the same with congelation. See Congelation, Frost, and Ice.

Freezing Rain, or Raining Ice, a very uncommon kind of shower, which fell in the west of England, in December 1672; whereof we have divers accounts in the Philosophical Transactions.

This rain, as soon as it touched anything above ground, as a bough or the like, immediately settled into ice; and by multiplying and enlarging the icicles, broke all down with its weight. The rain that fell on the snow immediately froze into ice, without sinking in the snow at all.

It made an incredible destruction of trees, beyond anything in all history. "Had it concluded with some gust of wind (says a gentleman on the spot), it might have been of terrible consequence. I weighed the sprig of an ash tree, of just three-quarters of a pound; the ice on which weighed 16 pounds. Some were frighted with the noise in the air; till they discerned it was the clatter of icy boughs, dashed against each other." Dr Beale observes, that there was no considerable frost observed on the ground during the whole; whence he concludes, that a frost may be very intense and dangerous on the tops of some hills and plains; while in other places it keeps at two, three, or four feet distance above the ground, rivers, lakes, &c. and may wander about very furious in some places, and remain in others not far off. The frost was followed by glowing heats, and a wonderful forwardness of flowers and fruits.