The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-03-11
Uncle Sam Will Make
Everyone His Prophet.
Every GlObule of Water Has
Its Own Speck of Dirt.
Crystals Of Hail That Contain Stones
or Small Turtles.

L e~'hNh tB u now iuNts ~ II dpout
lish "cloud atlas" for the education of
ordinary folks in n branch of science
which itself is wholly novel, namely the
study of the clouds and their portents.
The atlas will be offered for sale at the
cost price of go cents, including instruc-
tive text and pictures of III different kinds
of clouds or one may buy chart of
twelve kinds of clouds for 20 cents The
pictures will be executed beautifully i'm
colors, with incidental landscapes and sea
scenes. They have been prepared under
the critical eye of eminent psychologists,
or cloud experts, the artist being Rudolf
Cronau of New York.
The most important purpose of the
cloud atlas is to teach mariners how to
observe and report accurately. More
than 1000 ship captains and other persons
engaged in the sea faring business act
regularly as voluntary observers for the
photographic Office. They are supplied
with blank forms, which they fill in with
notes as to storms and other matters. In
| future the forms will provide for remarks
| on the clouds each day, stating their kind,
altitude, direction of movement, etc. The
| blanks thus filled are forwarded by mail
| TO Washington as soon as the vessel
| reaches port, and by their aid the gov
ernment experts are enabled to put to-
gether tables of most valuable data.
The data obtained in this fashion re
| specting clouds will afford knowledge
| that will enable the experts to predict
storms much more accurately than hith
erto. Incidentally, the mariners will learn
how to make better forecasts for them
selves. Since the beginning of naviga-
tion sailors have relied largely upon the
appearance of clouds in judging OF com
ing weather 1t is obvious that they will
be able to judge with much Tmore cer-
tainty when they know how to dfferenti-
ate the various species of clouds with
scientific correctness Credit for this
new idea is given by Washington corre-
spondent of the Philadelphia Times to
Commander Sigsbee, u. :. N, now in
charge of the photographic Office, who has
already earned fame as the inventor of
the devices now in use for sounding the
depth of the sea.
Just for example, take the feathery
clouds sometimes called mares tails"
which float far aloft in the heavens.
They are in fact by far the loftiest of all
clouds, occupying an ethereal region of
extreme cold five or six miles above the
earth. 1t is believed that they are COM
posed sometimes of needles of ice, some
times of globules of water, which is far
below the freezing point. Water may be
kept in vacuum tubes without freezing at
a temperature of IL degrees below zero,
because it has no nuclei for crystals OF
ice to form around. In the very rarefed
air of great heights similar conditions
produce the same effect. Balloonsts |
passing through such clouds have OBJ |
served that when the water globules |
strike the balloon or any other solid OBJ |
ject they freeze instantly.
Now, the mares tails are supposed to |
DC overflow clouds from cyclonic storms. |
They flow out from over the top of such |
great atmospheric whirls, and thus they |
are the first evidence seen of an approach |
ing cyclonic movement. Along the |
Atlantic seaboard of the United States
they are the forcrunner of storms coming |
up the coast When they are observed, it |
is time for mariners to look out. The
mares tails are known technically as
cirrus" clouds Belief as to their great |
height was verified by the balloonist
Glaisher, who when 81, 600 feet above the
soil of England, saw fcathcry network
above him. The "cumuli, " or wool-pack
clouds as they are commonly termed,
nj 81 |
mile.
Clouds of all kinds are composed of little
globules of water. The globules are very
minute, though big enough to see with the
naked eye. Balloonists, catching them
on their coats have often examined them
with magnifying glasses, and the same
thing may be done on high mountain
tops. 1t used TO be supposed that tho
globulcs were hollow, like soap globules,
because it was not easily understood how
otherwise they could be held suspended
In the air, but this notion has been ex-
plodcd Every globule has particle of
dust for nucleus. If it were not for the
dust there would be no clouds and no
rain, because the water i'm the atmosphere
would have nothing to condcnsc upon.
Fortunately it is not necessary to climb
, high mountain or go up I'm a balloon in
order to study the makeup of clouds. A
familiar phenomenon on the carths sur
Tacc is fog which is a true cloud on low
level This kind of cloud is produced by
The cooling of the air near the surface Of
the ground, the water condcnsing from
he atmosphere around dust particles. The
aqueous globulcs composing the fog or
mist may be examined under the
microscope as they pass across its field.
rhe familiar form of clouds known rs
stratus" is merely horizontal sheet of
fitted fog which floats at an elevation of
css than half mile ordinarily. The
,lobulcs already described grow bigger
md bigger in process of condensation, but
hey never become rain drops. The real
n 4. l