MA. DE LUC*3 ELECTRIC COLUMN, 293 



VII. 



JEffect of Changes in the Slate of the Atmosphere on Mr. 

 De Luc's Electric Column. Communicated hy Thomas 

 F0R8TER, Esq. 



To Mr. NICHOLSON. 



SIR, 



Ji. TAKE the liberty, with your permission, of corarauui** Connection of 



eating to the public, through the channel of your Journal, thestareof the 



a curious coincidence. The electric column of Mr. De ^'JJi^t^e^Tc- 



Luc, having been described in your pages, is of course well tion of Mr. 



Icnown to your readers. The two bells attached to the plus P.^ ^^f^ *^*^" 



•^ . . . , trie column, 



and minus end of the column of an instrument of this kind, 



kept by a relation of mine at Walthamstow, after having 

 continued ringing {in the manner which has been described 

 in your journal) for several months, began on the 4th of 

 September last to pulsate very irregularly, and at long inter- 

 vals. This irregularity continued through the month of 

 September, and until the l6th of October, when they 

 ceased to ring entirely. During the period of their hurried 

 and irregular pulsation, that is, from the 4th of September 

 to the 16th of October, a very peculiar kind of weather pre- 

 vailed, strong easterly winds, very clear nights abounding 

 with small meteors commonly called falling stars, the hygro- 

 meter rendered useless by the excessive dryness of the air, 

 and the varied and multiform appearances of the cirrhus and 

 cirrho-sfratus clouds, (not followed by rain, as usual) marked 

 a very remarkable state of the atmosphere. On the ifith of 

 October, the day on which the bells stopped ringing, a re- 

 markable change of weather became very evident, a strong 

 current of air from the South, and the prevalence of the 

 Jpotted cirrho-stratus cloud indicated the approach of rain, 

 which ensued during the night, and rainy weather for seve- 

 ral weeks succeeded. About a week ago the same kind of 

 weather, which prevailed between the 4thof September and 

 the l6th of October last, returned, the air became extremely ^X 



dry, the wind became easterly, and very strong, the small ^^ 



meteors have been again observed at nightj and the same 



kind 



