A STl'DV OX TIIH UKLATION OF ATMOSIMIKUK! KLKlTKICITV, MACNETIC 

 STORMS. AND WEATHER ELEMENTS TO A CASE OF TRAUMATIC 

 NEURALGIA. 



Bv U(»nr,i!T Oatmn, U. S. A. 



I have askctl Oa]tt. Catlin ti> presont this ]iai)cr l)<'caiis<> of its imiqiip iinportaiice. Wiicii years 

 ago at my desire lie began ti> observe hi.s own case with scieiitilie care, no essay on a lilce snbjeet 

 existed. Except the papers in whieh he coutinued his self study there are even now no companion 

 essays to put ah)ngside of his record. On a former occasion I read to the academy a report of liis 

 case, and to-day need only rennnd it that Capt. Catliu lost a leg in 1804, that neuralgia followed 

 and was felt chiefly as in the lost foot. The neuralgia was very definite in its onsets .and endings. 

 The observer, a quiet student of science, wa.s free from risks of suggestive emotions; also he had 

 time at his disposal. The Weather Hureau gave all else that we iik-eded, and the final results as 

 now summed up for publication in your jjroceedings are certainly most valuable. 



S. Weik Mitchei.i., M. 1). 



ATMOSniERIC ELECTRICITY. 



In the ordinary or local manifestation of atmospheric electricity as in thunderstorms, there 

 seems to be in the case of neuralgia under consideratiim no relationshii); the nerves remain un- 

 attected. Nor is it clear that the undetermined fluctuating values of atmosi»heric electricity 

 attending cyclones have an influence. It is not, however, unusual to witness after severe thunder- 

 storms accompanying cyclone movements the plienonienoii of so-called "heat lightning" as an ap- 

 parent product of the storm, and this it is believed may terminate in the true auroral display, or a 

 magnetic, storm, and becomes in this form, if sufficiently intense, as we have attempted to show 

 elsewhere, a contributor to pain condition. Excepting the record of Dr. Wislizenus, it is believed 

 that no mean annual or diurnal values have yet been determined in this country. In presenting 

 the continuous curves (Figs, i, ii) from the Baltimore rec-ord made for the Weather Bureau, ISS.'i- 

 '8(i, the law ofannwil fluctuation so far as we are able to discover by comparison of the winter 

 curves Fig. i with the summer of Fig. ii, gives a higher mean positive rahie for icint^r than for 

 .sunimir. 



In the (liurnal fluctuations, by a reference to Figs, i, ii, we can readily detect a composite 

 mean the <urve of which would present unmistakably one principal maximum for the day and a 

 ]irincipal minimum for the night. The recor<l seems too limited to disclose any subordinate max- 

 inuini or minimum which probably do exist. The diurnal electrification seems to have a common 

 ratio with trmpiratitre, and the annual an inverse. 



Vj.wh composite in Figs. I, II, is made up of sixty curves. Fig. i for the six winter month.s, 

 October to March, inclusive, and the first ten days (record permitting) of each month selected. Fig. 



