CHAP. 7. 1. OP ELECTRICITY. 211 



Wanecloud, appear on different occasions. It 

 has been conjectured, that the plane Wanecloud 

 is often placed between two differently electrified 

 plates of air, between which it may be effecting 

 a slow communication ; and that the alternate 

 bars of this cloud, at other times, may be 

 interposed between portions of air alternately 

 electrified with plus and minus. Experi- 

 ments are wanting to ascertain these facts ; but, 

 could they be demonstrated, such an alternate 

 distribution of the Electricity of the Air would 

 remain unaccounted for. If the conjecture 

 be true, the streaks of the Wanecloud may 

 perform an office analogous to that of the 

 water interposed between the plates of zinc 

 and copper in the Voltaic Apparatus : and it is 

 a fact, in some measure conformable to this idea, 

 that this cloud, after losing its wavy or its 

 striated appearances, has been observed to con- 

 dense into a nimbus, and produce Rain without 

 the help of any other cloud, as if it contained 

 within itself the principles of its own resolution 

 into water. The oblique and curved columns 

 of the Wanecloud seem, indeed, hardly ex- 

 plainable even on this supposition. The curious 

 cymoid feature, which so often precedes Storms, 

 is not merely alternate bars, but the bars are 



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