WATER AND RAIN*. Ill 



cloud ami then rain, not on account of the temperature of the 

 gases, but of their opposite characters causing a reciprocation 

 and chemical action. Let us give a common illustration. The 

 weather (in winter) has been cold for eovenil days, with the 

 wind I'liiwing from the north, so that everything is frozen hard. 

 Suddenly the wind veers round to the south. The consequence 

 is we first have snow, (which is a compound of the gases when 

 they are both cold or below 32 F.) and as the south wind 

 prevails, the temperature of both gases rises, or rather the south 

 wind so overpowers the north that it turns to rain. 



What is the philosophy of this ? 



The north wind is composed of a largo proportion of mineral 

 atoms emanating from the pole which permeates everything, 

 BO that when the south wind blows with its large allowance of 

 vegetable gas, brought from the region of the tropics, or where 

 there is a warm sun and abundance of vegetation, there is an 

 immediate change of combination with the result mentioned. 



The rain or snow which deluges us, does not necessarily 

 come from the Gulf Stream, or result from the evaporation of 

 the Atlantic, as is generally assumed, but from the atmosphere 

 which immediately surrounds us. Rain also does not necessarily 

 fall from a distance of some hundreds of yards above us, but 

 may be formed only a few feet over our heads. This is 

 proved by observations which have been taken lately, showing 

 that the nearer the rain guage is kept to the surface of the 

 earth, the greater is the rain-fall indicated. The process of 

 rain formation is everywhere in the atmosphere up to a certain 

 height, and even down to, and on, the surface of the earth. 



Thus it is we have fogs from a similar union of gases. The 

 opacity is occasioned, we believe, from the poles of the atom* 



