290 Ringing of Bells durmg Thunder. 



In conclusion, we remark, that in the present state of the 

 science, it is not proved that the ringing of bells renders strokes 

 of lightning more imminently dangerous; — it is not proved that 

 any great noise has ever made the lightning descend upon 

 buildings, which would not, independently, have been struck by 

 it. But, notwithstanding this, it ought raost^decidedly to be re- 

 commended that the bells should not be rung, for the sake of 

 the ringers. The danger which they run is similar to that 

 which those imprudent individuals expose themselves to, who, 

 during a thunder-storm, take refuge under a tree. Lightning 

 strikes elevated objects, and especially the spires of steeples ; the 

 hempen cord attached to the bell, and commonly imbued with 

 moisture, conducts the discharge to the very hands of the ring- 

 er, and hence so many deplorable accidents.* It should be re- 



M. Needham constructed a model steeple in wood, three feet high, in 

 which he suspended a bell five and a half inches in diameter, and so ar- 

 ranged, that it might be rung by means of a handle. At the top of the 

 steeple was placed a metallic ball, whose communication with the earth, or, 

 in the language of the natural philosophy of the day, with the common re- 

 servoir, was properly established. This ball was placed opposite a precisely 

 simila^ ball, belonging to the conductor of an electric battery, which was 

 charged to saturation. When the bell was not ringing, the explosive dis- 

 tance — the distance to which the spark darted, from the ball of the conduc- 

 tor to the ball of the steeple — was a quarter of an inch. The two balls were 

 then placed at the distance o/Aa?/ an inch, when it was foimd that no spark 

 was emitted, and there was no flow of the electric fluid between them, al- 

 though the bell was rung strongly and rapidly, I look upon this experiment, 

 says the Abbd, as decisive. All, however, will probably not be of this mind. 



M. Needham having successively made the experinrient when the two balls 

 were at the distance of a quarter, and of half an inch from each other, would 

 have been perfectly right in concluding, from these results, that the sounds 

 of the bells did not considerably augment the facilit}' of the electrical dis- 

 charge, and that it did not double the explosive distance. But before he was 

 authorized to affirm that the noise had absolutely no effect, I think he 

 should have passed from the distance of a quarter to half an inch, not all at 

 once, but by insensible degrees. Moreover, the small electrified masses — 

 the two copper balls approximated to each other by M . Needham, were both 

 soUd bodies. In the atmosphere, on the contrary, we see floating clouds 

 which the vibrations of the air may so far modify in t heir form, as sensibly 

 to affect the electric tension of the surface which i s turned towards the 

 earth. The Abbe's experiment would have been very valuable had it 

 given a positive result; but yielding only a negative <dne, it appears to me 

 almost valueless in a meteorological point of view. 



• To the unfortunate incidents already enumerated I (p. 119), I shall now 



