112 Meteors. 



cold weather the clouds frequently touch 

 the very surface of the earth ; for a fog 

 may with propriety be called a cloud close 

 to the ground. 



A mist is a very indefinite word. It 

 means an incipient formation of clouds, 

 or haziness ; and it often denotes a very 

 small rain, or deposition of water in par- 

 ticles so small as not to be visible singly. 



The snow is formed when the atmos- 

 phere is so cold as to freeze the particles 

 of rain as soon as they are formed, and 

 the adherence of several of those parti- 

 cles to each other, which meet and cling 

 to each other as they descend through 

 the air, forms the usual fleeces of snow, 

 which are larger, (since they are longer 

 in descending, and have a greater oppor- 

 tunity of meeting) when the clouds are 

 higher than when they are lower. 



The hail differs from snow in its con- 

 sisting of much more solid, and much 

 more dehned pieces of congealed water. 

 It is sui posed that the water, already 

 formed into considerable drops, is driv- 

 en and detained a considerable time 

 through a cold region of the atmosphere, 

 by the wind, which almost always accom- 



