They seem to be the result of some intensely electric condition of the elements, which finds an expression in that form.
Cyclones, until within a few years, meant those circular tempests encountered in the Pacific and Indian oceans.

They are the most destructive of all storms, being far more deadly than monsoons and tornadoes.
All navigators, when caught in a cyclone know how to get out of it.
They have only to sail at right angles to the wind, when they will either pass beyond the outer rim of the circular sweep, or reach the center, where the ocean is calm.
The diameters of the ocean cyclones range from fifty to five hundred or a thousand miles.

Professor Douglas, of Ann Arbor University, entertains his friends now and then by manufacturing miniature cyclones.

He first suspends a large copper plate by silken cords.

The plate is heavily charged with electricity, which hangs below in a bag-like mass.