40 Transactions of the Illinois 



therefore preposterous to assume that the clouds constituting and envel- 

 oping a rainstorm bring along with them either the water they precipi- 

 tate in their course, or even the elements of which it is composed. 



We have selected a tropical storm for illustration because it answers 

 our purpose better on account of the immense rain-falls that characterize 

 these storms. But what is true of them, is equally true of continental 

 rain and snow storms that frequently sweep over our continent from the 

 Pacific to the Atlantic. It is in their case also impossible for a cloud to 

 hold aqueous vapor enough to deposit, for instance, a snow from two to 

 four feet deep for a distance of four thousand miles. As these facts 

 show that the clouds cannot carry this immense load of rain, hail, or 

 snow from one ocean to the other, it therefore is evident that they, in 

 some manner, must gather it in their course. This brings us back to the 

 the original question ; how are clouds formed .•* 



You must here pardon a necessary digression ; for it is impossible 

 to answer or to understand this question, unless we know the condition 

 of the Earth and its atmosphere, and the necessary action and reaction 

 consequent to this relative condition. 



The fundamental principle of Meteorology, — in fact of all physical 

 science,— is that the Earth and all bodies in space, are highly charged 

 with electricity. The necessary consequence is that the atmospheres 

 of all suns and planets have an equally high charge, but of opposite 

 electricity; that is, all celestial bodies have a negative charge, conse- 

 quently their atmospheres must be positive. Every tyro in electricity 

 knows that both poles of electricity are always present, and that they 

 are inseparable. It is the same with magnetism : break a magnet in 

 ever so many fragments, yet each fragment is a complete magnet. In 

 our laboratories we can prove that if we charge any conductor with 

 either of the electricities, it evokes its opposite pole by induction in 

 surrounding bodies. Besides, if we take two wires forming closed cur- 

 rents, and send a current through one, it induces a current in the other, 

 or adjoining wire, but in the opposite direction and of opposite elec- 

 tricity. 



It has been established by observation that constant currents of 

 electricity flow through the Earth from east to west, consequently there 

 must be a constant current in the atmosphere in the opposite direction. 



But electricity can only pass by either of two ways ; conduction or 

 convection. As the atmosphere is a nonconductor, therefore electricity 

 must pass through it by convection. Aqueous vapor is the medium of 

 conyection ; hence those fine cirrus clouds that we can see almost every 

 day, and all hydrometeors take uniformly an eastward direction in the 

 temperate zones. 



Besides these electric currents in the Earth, there are electric waves 

 both in the Earth and in the atmosphere, rolling from west to east. In 

 the Earth these waves, obstructed by matter of low-conducting capacity, 

 produce earthquakes ; while in the atmosphere they collect the aqueous 

 vapor to form clouds and feed a rainstorm. It is to the action of these 



