CHAP. 2. I?. HEIGHT OF CLOUDS. 93 



mentioned to me, that large cumuli seen by 

 him, when at a much greater elevation in a 

 balloon, appeared like small silvery specks on 

 the ground ; his distance from them being so 

 great, that they appeared to rest on the earth's 

 surface ; but I have found no accurate accounts 

 of Aeronauts having ascended so far aloft as the 

 lighter modifications sometimes appear to be 

 elevated.* 



Those who have been on the tops of high 

 hills and mountains, have frequently spoken 

 of clouds having passed below them ; but 

 being unacquainted with the peculiarities of 

 clouds, and having been inattentive in their 

 observations, their accounts have been of little 

 value for ascertaining the general height of the 

 modifications ; when I was at the top of Cader 

 Idris, on Sunday evening, August 14, 1814, 

 the weather being cleared up after a showery 

 morning, I noticed that the Scud passed above 

 and below the tops of the mountains, but the 

 bases of most of the cumuli were above them ; a 

 long bed of Curlcoud with fine fibrous edges was 

 much higher, so that my ascent up the moun- 



* The highest aeronautical ascent seems to have been made* 

 by M. M> Bertrand and Morveau from Dijon in Burgundy. 



