Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/71

* CLOUD. 53 CLOUD ON TITLE. earriiHl up through tlio clourl and doun ajiain on the leeward side, evapurating and di-appearing as they descend at al)oul the same level as when they were formed on the windward side. Tornado cloud and ictilrrcjmitl cloud are the distinctive, cloud-like form that readies down nearly to the surface of tlic cartli or ocean from (he main cloud-mass above, and marUs the central axis of a whirliiij; mass of air. Within such a whirl, the barometric ])ressure is reduced by reason of centrifugal force, and any air that is drawn inward expands, cools, and forms cloud, just as it would do if it rose upward into regions of lower pressure. When the whirl ceases, the cloud immediately disappears. (Iloho-cirnis, a cirrus cloud having a globular form, from which stream downward tibres or filaments, as though the particles of the globular mass were being pulled out by the wind, or were settling down by their own weight into air-currents of a ditt'er- ent velocity horizontal. Mammato ■ cKiiiuhis, protuberances or pockets on the under side of an otherwise flat-bottomed cloud, as though the heavier portions of the cloud were settling down in groups from the main cloud. This formation may also sometimes represent the central por- tions of adjacent whirls of air rising uj) into the clouds: but this latter phenomenon, which has been seen by Aiibe, is probably not so fre- quent as the former. The study of the movements of the clouds is our principal source of information relative to the general motion of the air at considerable heights above the sea or land. During the past fifty years an increasing amount of attention has been given to this matter, and the use of the nephoseope and photogram-me.ter has greatly in- creased the accuracy of observation. By inter- national agreement, special observations were made in many countries in 1896 and 1807, the results of which were published during the years 1898-1901: of these reports the most important is that by Prof, F. H. Bigelow, published in the Anmidl Report of Prof. Willis L. Moore, chief of the United States Weather Bureau. The average area covered by clouds, taking the globe as a whole, is about one-half of its surface. They, therefore, play a very important part in the distribution of solar heat over the earth's surface and within the atmosphere, and the consideration of this influence alone is a very important but difficult problem in the deter- mination of the motions of the atmosphere. See Dew; Ev.m'or.vtiox : Xepiioscope; Raix; Ssow, CLOUDBERRY (ME, cloud, mass of rock, hill, AS. cliid, round mass, mass of rock + herri/) (Rubvs clwrna-iiiorus). A plant of the same genus with the dewberry, which it re- sembles. It has a trailing habit of growth, and never attains a height of more than 8 to 10 inches ; the leaves, few. large, lobed, and some- what kidney-shaped : the flower large and white, male and female flowers on separate plants, the female plant producing an orange-red fruit equal in size to a dewberry, and of an agreeable flavor. It is a native of the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and America, In Great Britain it is chiefly confined to elevated moors: in Norway and Sweden it is much more abundant, and the fruit is highly valued and made into excellent preserves. In America it is found only sparingly south of the Canadian boundary, but it is com- mon and greatly prized in Newfoundland, Liibrador, Xova Scotia, and northern Quebec. It is abundant through northern t;anad;i, ex- tending from the Atlantic to the Pacific and north to the Arctic Circle, Unfortunately, the plant is of dillicnlt cultivation, and no attempt to make it pnuhice fruit freely in our gardens has yet been successful. Scunewhat similar to the chmdbcrry is liiibus geoides, which yields ji very agreeable fruit, as large as a raspberry, one of the few native fruits of Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands, CLOUDBURST, A term first applied in the United States about 18-10, and in India about 1860, to a sudden extraordinarily heavy local rain. No definite rate or anujunt of rainfall, or area covered by it, has been assigned as a limit proper for distinguishing cloudbursts from ordinary heavy rains. Many special cases of cloudliursts have been descril)ed in English and American meteorological journals, especially in the United l^tatcs Montktij ^^'enthrr Review, from which it may be seen that the term is rarely used unless si.x or more inches of rain fall, and at the rate of 10 or more inches per hour. Thus, in one case, 10 inches fell in an hour; in another, the extreme case, 21 inches. Nothing definite is known as to the areas cov- ered by these heavy rains: but it is not likely that the heaviest cover more than an acre, or that the lighter ones cover more than a square mile. Several cloudbursts have occurred on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains; but the great rains that cause the heavy floods along the eastern slope of the Appalachians from Georgia to Pennsylvania sometimes attain the intense local character that is ordinarily at- tached to the term cloudburst. Professor Ferrel has explained how a mass of water can be held within the cloud by means of rapidly ascending currents; but there is scant evidence of the actual existence of the strong ascending wind required by this explanation, and it seems equally possible that cloudbursts may result from the sudden formation of a large mass of rain in a very tall cloud, rather than from the gradual accumulation of rain in the clouds. Consult: Ferrel. Recent Advances (Washington, 1885), and his Popular Treatise on the Winds (New York. isn:l). CLOUD ON TITLE. An apparent defect in the title to real estate, based on a written instru- ment, judgment, or order of court, which pur- ports to create an interest or lien in or an incumbrance U])on the land in question. The person whose land is so aflTected may have the 'cloud' removed by appropriate proceeding in equity, instituted by a bill in the nature of a bill to quiet possession, known specifically as a liill to remove cloud on title.' The judgment of the court may direct the obnoxious instrument to be delivered up and canceled, or the record of such incumbrance or lien canceled, or may by decree declare a judgment, order of coirrt. or proceedings under an invalid tax-levy, to be void and of no effect so far as the land in question is concerned. In order to obtain this remedy, however, the instrument or act purporting to create the cloud on title must have apparent validity. A deed or mortgage void upon its face does not create a cloud, and cannot be attacked by such a proceeding. See Bill in Equity: 1nci'MBB. cb;