NEW CLOUD CLASSIFICATIONS. 
BY 
Alexander McAdie. 
[Read before the Society, March 2, 1895.] 
Our cloud names date from the beginning of the century. 
At a meeting of the Askesian Society, session of 1802-’3, a 
young chemist of Tottenham read an essay in which he 
proposed the terms stratus, or sheet, cumulus, or heap, and 
cirrus, or feather, for cloud names. These terms combined 
with one another and with nimbus, or rain, were sufficient 
to designate all ordinary types of cloud. One other attempt 
at cloud classification had been made ; but Howard’s classi¬ 
fication was so superior and the scheme so flexible and 
easy of comprehension that the Howardian system at once 
received recognition. The essay itself was reprinted, trans¬ 
lated into various languages, and in later years has been 
adopted almost without change by the different meteoro¬ 
logical services. The classification is one based entirely 
upon cloud appearance. Beginning with the lowest, the 
seven types are— 
Nimbus, or rain. 
Stratus, or layer. 
Cumulo-stratus, or combination of layer and heap. 
Cumulus, or mass. 
Cirro-cumulus, or feather and heap. 
Cirro-stratus, or feather and sheet. 
Cirrus, or feather. 
11-Bull. Phil. Soc., Wash., Vol. 13. 
(77) 
