THUNDER-SHO WERS. 343 



more easterly current of air may have come over the shoulder of the 

 mountain on the opposite bank of the Connecticut River, or it may 

 have come down the valley of that river, and met the current coming 

 down tlie West River in the village of Brattleboro. 



With respect to the direction in Avhich the lightning struck 

 whether up or down, it is not improbable that in every stroke of elec- 

 tricity there are two opposing currents, one up and the other down. 

 Tlie splinters which adhere to the first tree struck show this, some re- 

 maining attached by the upper end, and others by the lower. 



Beginning in the north, the first in order of the objects struck 

 were a house and a tapering fir-tree near by, within about ten or fif- 

 teen feet, and towering considerably above the house. The house had 

 no conductor. A hundred paces from there, in a southeasterly direc- 

 tion, a locust-tree was struck. It stood in a grove of locust, maple, 

 poplar, butternut, fir, and. other trees, within about thirty paces from 

 a conductor upon a neighboring house, and not far from a tall Lom- 

 bardy poplar. A hundred paces farther on, and at a lower level, one 

 of the higher branches of a lofty elm was struck. At the distance of 

 another hundred yards, in the same general direction, stands the Con- 

 gregational church, and near it the Baptist church, both about 130 

 feet in height, and with conductors apparently in good condition. 

 These churches were unharmed. About 400 paces from there, and at 

 a still lower level, stands the fourth point struck, which is a three- 

 story grist-mill; and, finally, some 300 yards or more farther on, and 

 more to the westward, on a comparatively high point of land stands 

 the dwelling-house, the fifth and last point known to have been struck 

 the last, we mean, in following the direction, and not in the order 

 of time. The effect of the strokes at the two extreme jjoints w^as 

 severer than any of the others. 



Reports from other quarters of the country show^that the electrical 

 condition of the atmosphere of New England on the 1st of August was 

 considerably disturbed, thunder-showers occurring at many different 

 places. When this is the case, it is reasonable to suppose that two 

 showers, following down two neighboring valleys, may come together, 

 and thus double the amount of electricity that might be possessed by 

 one alone. 



The question here occurs, " Is there any common origin between 

 these thunder- showers and the northern lights ?" Are they not each 

 but a different means of restoring a disturbed electrical equilibrium ? 

 If this is the case, we might infer that, when thunder-showers are 

 mimerous and violent, the displays of the northern lights will be less 

 frequent and less active, and vice versa ; though there may be cases in 

 wliieh both become more than ordinarily active. 



One of the discharges of electricity which we happened to observe 

 during the shower was perhaps that one which fell upon the grist-mill. 

 Amid the floods of descending rain, it looked like falling sparks of 



