IRON CY LINKER BURST BY ELECTRICITY. ggC} 



ject the different parts to a distance, as the little bit of lead 



in the author's valuable experiments ? 



At least there can be no doubt, that these explosions, in Thunder. 



our thunderstorms, must produce effects more or less con- storms ™ ust , 



r I • . act on the sub - 



siderable in the heart of our globe, as I have shown in my stance of oer 



Theory of the Earth, vol. Itl, p. 224. « Iobe - 



The terraqueous globe, 1 there observed, is commonly Theory of the 

 considered as a vast storehouse of the electric fluid. Na- Action of elec 

 tural philosophers call it the common reservoir. This sup- £^ ont e 

 poses all the bodies, that compose the globe, to be in a state 

 of habitual electricity; a principle admitted by all philoso- 

 phers. 



But this electricity is not always the same, either with re- 

 spect to the whole body of the globe, or to its different 

 parts. 



Tt is completely demonstrated, that there is a reciprocal 

 communication between the electricity of the atmosphere, 

 and that of the globe. We must therefore consider the 

 globe and its atmosphere as two electrical bodies, each * 



charged with its natural electricity: and as these two bodies 

 are in contact, their electricity should be in equilibrium ac- 

 cording to their natural capacity, so that one has not more 

 electricity than the other. 



But local circumstances may increase the electricity f 

 one of these bodies in certain places, and diminish it in, 

 others. The equilibrium will then be disturbed, and the 

 electric fluid will rush from the positive body to the nega- 

 tive. This happens in the case of lightning, whether the 

 stroke be descending or ascending. 



When a portion of the atmosphere is positively electrified 

 with respect to the terrestrial bodies Opposite to it, the elec- 

 tric fluid rushes into these bodies, as soon as the distance 

 allows. This communication is effected rapidly and witK 

 explosion, in certain circumstances; which constitutes the 

 descending thunderstroke* On the contrary it is effected 

 slowly and insensibly, if there be points to draw of the elec- 

 tric fluid gradually, or if it be Conveyed by rain* dew, &c« 

 If the atmosphere be negatively electrified with respect to 

 the opposite terrestrial bodies, it will attract their electric 

 fluid. This will constitute the ascending stroke, if it be ef« 

 Vol, XXVI.— Av* 1810. U fected 



