Q. _How do you know that ELECTRICITY affects the motion of the clouds?_ A. Because clouds often meet from _opposite directions_; and (after they have discharged their opposite electricities into each other) _vanish altogether_. Q. _Into how many CLASSES are the different sorts of CLOUDS generally divided?_ A. Into three classes:--viz. Simple, Intermediate, and Compound. Q. _How are SIMPLE CLOUDS sub-divided?_ A. 1.--Cirrus. 2.--Cum'ulus; and 3.--Stra'tus. Q. _What are CIRRUS CLOUDS?_ A. Clouds like _fibres_, _loose hair_, or _thin streaks_, are called cirrus clouds. Q. _Why are these clouds called CIRRUS?_ A. From the Latin word, _cirrus_ ("a lock of hair, or curl"): they are the most _elevated of all clouds_. Q. _What do CIRRUS clouds PORTEND?_ A. When the streamers point _upwards_, the clouds are _falling_, and _rain is at hand_: but when the streamers point _downwards_, expect easterly wind or drought. Q. _What are CUM'ULUS CLOUDS?_ A. Cum'ulus clouds are lumps like great _sugar-loaves_,--_volumes of smoke_,--or _mountain towering over mountain_. Q. _Why are these monster masses called_ CUM'ULUS CLOUDS? A. From the Latin word, _cum'ulus_ (a mass or pile). Q. _What do_ CUM'ULUS _clouds_ FORESHOW? A. When these piles of cloud are _fleecy_, and sail _against the wind_, they indicate _rain_; but when their outline is very _hard_, and they come up _with the wind_, they foretell _fine weather_. Cumulus clouds should be _smaller_ towards evening than they are at noon. If they _increase_ in size at sun-set, a thunder-storm may be expected in the night. Q. _What are_ STRA'TUS CLOUDS? A. Creeping mists, especially prevalent in a summer's evening: these clouds rise at sun-set _in low damp places_, and are always _nearer the earth_, than any _other_ sort of cloud. Q. _Why are these mists called_ STRA'TUS _clouds?_ A. From the Latin word, _stra'tus_ ("laid low," or "that which lies low"). Q. _How are the_ INTERMEDIATE CLOUDS _sub-divided?_ A. Into two sorts. 1.--The Cirro-Cum'ulus; and 2.--The Cirro-Stra'tus. Q. _What are CIRRO-CUM'ULUS CLOUDS?_ A. When _cirrus_ clouds spring from a _massy centre_; or when _heavy masses of cloud_ terminate at their edges in _long streaks_, or what are called "_mares' tails_." A system of small round clouds may be called cirro-cum'ulus. Q. _What do CIRRO-CUM'ULUS clouds generally FOREBODE?_ A. Continued drought, or hot dry weather. Q. _What are CIRRO-STRA'TUS CLOUDS?_ A. They compose what is generally called a "_mackarel sky_." This class of clouds always indicate _rain and wind_; hence the proverb-- "Mackarels' scales and mares' tails Make lofty ships to carry low sails." Q. _How are COMPOUND CLOUDS sub-divided?_ A. Compound clouds are also sub-divided into two sorts. 1.--The Cum'ulo-stra'tus; and 2.--The Nimbus. Q. _What is meant by CUM'ULO-STRA'TUS clouds?_