DROPS, in meteorology, small spherical bodies which the particles of fluids spontaneously form them-
Nº 104.
selves into when let fall from any height. This spherical figure, the Newtonian philosophers demonstrate to be the effect of corpuscular attraction; for considering that the attractive force of one single particle of a fluid is equally exerted to an equal distance, it must follow that other fluid particles are on every side drawn to it, and will therefore take their places at an equal distance from it, and consequently form a round superficies. See the articles ATTRACTION, FLUID, and RAIN.