S2 Questions for Solution relating to Meteorology, 



the spark, for example, leaves the silver to pass to the copper, 

 it not only transports a portion of the first metal to the copper, 

 but it likewise transports the copper to the silver ! I will insist 

 no longer, however, on these phenomena ; I have cited them here 

 only with a view to shew that the sparks of our ordinary ma- 

 chines contain ponderable substances. 



M. Fusinieri affirms that similar substances exist in lightning, 

 and that in this case also they are in a state of great division, 

 of ignition and combustion. According to him, these transported 

 matters are the true cause of the transient smells which thunder 

 always occasions, and also of the pulverulent deposits which re- 

 main round the fractures through which the electrical matter 

 has forced a passage. In these deposits, which have been too 

 much neglected by observers, M. Fusinieri has detected metallic 

 iron, iron in different degrees of oxidation, and sulphur. The 

 ferruginous spots left on the walls of houses may be found, wheti 

 strictly examined, to arise from the iron with which the lightning 

 was charged, at the expense of that which occurs in almost every 

 building ; but what is to be said regarding the sulphurous spots 

 on these same walls, and especially the ferruginous marks which 

 are found in the open field on trees struck with lightning? M. 

 Fusinieri conceives himself authorized to infer from these experi- 

 ments, that the atmosphere contains, at every height, or at least 

 as far as the region of stormy clouds, iron, sulphur, and other 

 substances on the nature of which chemical analysis has been 

 hitherto silent ; that the electrical spark is impregnated with 

 them, and that it transports them to the surface of the earth, 

 where they form slight deposits round points that have been 

 struck with the lightning. 



This new method of regarding electrical phenomena, assuredly 

 deserves to be followed up with that accuracy which is suited to 

 the present state of science. Every one who witnesses the fall 

 of a thunderbolt, would perform a very useful service by care- 

 fully collecting the black or coloured matter which the electrical 

 fluid seems to have deposited at every stage of its progress, when 

 it must have undergone sudden changes in rapidity. A careful 

 chemical analysis of these deposits may lead to unexpected dis- 

 coveries of high importance. 



Falling Stars. — From the time that accurate observation has 



