286 Ringing of Bells during 



firm in regard to common clouds, that the discharge of the 

 greatest guns appears to be wholly without influence. 



Another problem, requiring fresh researches, suggests itself; 

 and I will now take leave to recommend it to the attention of 

 the superior officers at our artillery schools. Observations upon 

 the state of the sky in these situations themselves, would be 

 very valuable. Such as are made at the distance of from two 

 to five miles, will be objected to by sceptical minds ; and it will 

 be alleged that such a meteorological station has become exclu- 

 sively overcast, in consequence of that dispersion which the firing 

 has effected in the zenith of the guns. It will be indispensable 

 in this inquiry, to join with the observations of every practising 

 day, those of the day previous, and the succeeding day, and 

 the whole three must be taken very accurately, and at the same 

 time. If the variations of the weather during the time that the 

 firing lasted, were alone to be taken, we should evidently run the 

 risk of attributing to the detonations of the artillery, the change 

 in the appearance of the sky which almost every morning oc- 

 curs in proportion as the sun rises above the horizon.* 



Is it useful or dangerous to ring Great Bells during a Thunder 



Storm ? 



I proceed to examine this important question without regard- 

 ing the unhesitating decisions of various learned bodies, whether 

 executive or judicial,-|- and, at the same time, without any dis- 

 position to conclude that the widely-spread belief is not based 

 upon a solid foundation. 



* Of the 662 days above referred to, there occur perfectly serene days on 

 the day before the practice, ... 83 



... of 84 



after 80 



t In the year 1747, the Acad^mie des Sciences itself regarded it danger- 

 ous to ring the bells, or to cause any other violent commotion in the air, 

 when the storm was over head. See Hist, de VAcad. 1747, p. 52. A decree 

 of the French Parliament, under date May 21, 1784, confirmed an ordinance 

 of the Bailiwick of Langres, wliich expressly forbid the ringing of bells du- 

 ring a thunder-storm. Two years previously, a similar order had been issued 

 in the Palatinate, by the Elector Charles Theodore. We might also cite 

 mandates in virtue of which the same practice was proscribed over the ex- 

 tent of many dioceses. t, 



