n all bodies (see
page 18).

What seasons are more liable to rain than others?

The Spring and Autumn are generally the most rainy seasons, the vapors
_rise_ more plentifully in Spring; and in the Autumn, as the sun
recedes from us and the cold increases, the vapors, which lingered
above us during the summer heats, _fall_ more easily.

_Recede_, to fall back, to retreat.

What is Snow?

Rain congealed by cold in the atmosphere, which causes it to fall to
the earth in white flakes. Snow fertilizes the ground by defending the
roots of plants from the intenser cold of the air and the piercing
winds.

_Congealed_, turned by the force of cold from a fluid to a
solid state; hardened.

_Fertilize_, to render fruitful.

_Intenser_, raised to a higher degree, more powerful.

What is Hail?

Drops of rain frozen in their passage through cold air. Hail assumes
various figures according to the degrees of heat or cold through which
it passes, being sometimes round, flat, &c.

What is the Atmosphere?

The mass of aeriform fluid which encompasses the earth on all sides:
it extends about fifty miles above its surface. Air is the elastic
fluid of which it is composed.

_Elastic_, having the power of springing back, or recovering
its former figure after the removal of any external pressure
which has altered that figure. When the force which
compresses the air is removed, it expands and resumes its
former state.

What are the uses of air?

It is necessary to the well-being of man, since without it neither he
nor any animal or vegetable could exist. If it were not for
atmospheric air, we should be unable to converse with each other; we
should know nothing of sound or smell; or of the pleasures which arise
from the variegated prospects which surround us: it is to the presence
of air and carbonic acid that water owes its agreeable taste. Boiling
deprives it of the greater part of these, and renders it insipid.

_Variegated_, diversified, changed; adorned with different
colors.

_Insipid_, tasteless.

What is Wind?

Air in motion with any degree of velocity.

What is Lightning?

The effect of electricity in the clouds. A flash of lightning is
simply a stream of the electric fluid passing from the clouds to the
earth, from the earth to the clouds, or from one cloud to another.
Lightning usually strikes the highest and most pointed