210 OF ELECTRICITY. CHAP. 7. 1 . 



again a charge would not cause it to reassurne 

 the primitive structure of the clouds of which 

 it was originally formed, for it now was 

 condensed to minute drops of water, a state 

 probably very different from that of any other 

 modification. Under these circumstances, then, 

 the Raincloud may exist as a highly electrified 

 conductor : and it is probable that the difference 

 between common Showers and Thunderstorms 

 consists in the intensity of the charge which 

 the nimbific mass may acquire after its forma- 

 tion. 



It must be granted, that though the present 

 theory seems so well to agree with the forma- 

 tion of Rain, it is nevertheless insufficient to 

 account for all the varieties of the other modi- 

 fications of clouds. We may readily conceive 

 the fibrous structure, and other circumstances 

 of the Curlcloud, to be the result of its office 

 as a conducting body, effecting an electric 

 communication; but we can assign no reason 

 why a strong positive charge should produce a 

 Sondercloud, instead of a collected mass like 

 the Stackencloud, nor under what dissimilar 

 circumstances Electricity should cause the 

 infinite variety of forms under which these 

 modifications, as well as the Curlcloud and 



