become cold and frozen even on a summer's night, and all but the
most hardy plants would die. But the vapour which formed a veil
against the sun in the day, now forms a still more powerful veil
against the escape of the heat by night. It shuts in the heat-
waves, and only allows them to make their way slowly upwards from
the earth - thus producing for us the soft, balmy nights of
summer and preventing all life being destroyed in the winter.

Perhaps you would scarcely imagine at first that it is this screen
of vapour which determines whether or not we shall have dew upon
the ground. Have you ever thought why dew forms, or what power has
been at work scattering the sparkling drops upon the grass?
Picture to yourself that it has been a very hot summer's day, and
the ground and the grass have been well warmed, and that the sun
goes down in a clear sky without any clouds. At once the heat-
waves which have been stored up in the ground, bound back into the
air, and here some are greedily absorbed by the vapour, while
others make their way slowly upwards. The grass, especially, gives
out these heat-waves very quickly, because the blades, being very
thin, are almost all surface. In consequence of this they part
with their heat more quickly than they can draw it up from the
ground, and become cold. Now the air lying just above the grass is
full of invisible vapour, and the cold of the blades, as it
touches them, chills the water- particles, and they are no longer
able to hold apart, but are drawn together into drops on the
surface of the leaves.

We can easily make artificial dew for ourselves. I have here a
bottle of ice which has been kept outside the window. When I
bring it into the warm room a mist forms rapidly outside the