HOW TO KNOW THE CLOUDS 



instruments cannot he permanently located 

 there. 



Further, clouds at high altitudes tell 

 us something more than the actual direc- 

 tion of the air currents. Their forma- 

 tion and dissipation indicate to us some 

 of their physical conditions as re- 



Now cloufls combine and spread o'er all the sky, 

 Wlieu little nii^t^ed parts ascend on liiKh, 

 Which may be twined, though by a feeble tic ; 

 These make small clouds, which driven on by 



wind. 

 To other like and little clouds arc joined. 

 And these increase by more ; at last they form 

 Thick, heavy clouds ; and thence proceeds a 



storm." 



"CLOUDS THAT ENVELOPED THE MOUNTAIN TOPS." 

 View from the top of the Esel, a peak of Mt. Pilatus. 



gards temperature, moisture, etc., which 

 are of great importance in the study 

 of the inner working of our atmo- 

 sphere. 



Besides the utilitarian there is the 

 picturesque and poetic side to the obser- 

 vation of clouds. Who in a moment 

 of idleness has not turned his eyes sky- 

 ward and watched the varied shapes and 

 colours of the vaporous travellers in the 

 ocean "of air wending their way towards 

 the distant horizon ? The reader has, 

 perhaps, watched the hatching and growth 

 of a storm, such as that so excellently 

 described by Lucretius in the following 

 lines : — 



Clouds have naturally fascinated the 

 minds of many painters, but how few of 

 these have been able to portray faith- 

 fully the majestic nature and unques- 

 tionable beauty displayed by their subject. 

 The painter is undoubtedly handicajiped 

 by their fleeting nature, and he can onI\- 

 put on his canvas an impression made 

 up from his recollection of the scene, 

 assisted by notes written tlown at the 

 time. 



The photographer is perhaps in a worse 

 plight, for although he can secure in- 

 stantaneously a faithful record of the 

 cloudscape before him, the resulting jiic- 

 ture lacks life, because it is devoid of the 



