196 APPENDIX TO MEMOIR OF PELTIER. 



air is, in itself, electrical, and that it is vitreous, had not been able to draw any 

 general conclusion, to deduce any law from their observations. There had been, 

 unquestionably, meteorological observations at once curious, interesting and 

 exact ; there had been, indeed, a great number of them ; but as nothing con- 

 nected, co-ordinated, concatenated them with one another, meteorology as a sci- 

 ence did not yet erist ; it was Peltier who founded it, for it was he who first 

 stated its laws ; of this the reader will be convinced by a perusal of the sum- 

 mary review which we propose to give of the discoveries and ideas of Peltier 

 on this subject, based on his published researches.* 



The princijial works of Peltier on meteorology are the following : first, his 

 Traite dcs tivnibcs, (on water-spouts,) published in 1840; his memoir on the 

 electricity of the atmosphere, published in 1842 in the Anncdes de CJiiniic et de 

 Flnjslquc, (od scries, vol. iv, p. 385 ;) his memoir on fogs, which may be found 

 in the 15th volume of the Mcmoircs de T Academic de BruxcUes, and has been 

 reproduced in the Anncdes de Cli. ct de FJu/siquc, vol. vi, p. 129 ; his writings 

 on electric mefcorologi/, i^nnted in the Archives d'Electricitc de Geneve^ 1844, vol. 

 iv, p. 173; finally, his great memoir on barometric variations, published in vol- 

 ume 18th of the 3Iei)toires de VAcademie de Bntxelles. To these should be added 

 certain articles of the Dietionnairc Unicersel dcs Sciences KatureUcs (etoiles 

 filantes, foudre, galvanism, grele, &c.,) and many other less important commu- 

 nications, composed in the foim of letters, whether to the Academy of Sciences 

 of Paris or to the Soeiete Philbmatique. 



Distribution of diurncd vajiors tinder the douhle influence of the earth and the 

 tropiccd current. — The diurnal vapors situated between the earth and the tropical 

 current, that is to say, between two like forces acting in a contrary direction, are 

 divided into three very distinct strata. t The lowest, that which receives most 

 immediately the resinous influence of the globe, becomes vitreous. The portion 

 next to the surface cannot, it is true, long retain its electricity, for the proximity 

 of the earth too greatly facilitates its efflux ; it is only the zone placed at some 

 distance which is sufficiently insulated to preserve a part of its own. The infe- 

 rior vapors, in assuming the globular form, become white and humid ; they form 

 the ordinary fogs, which so easily resolve themselves into dew or drizzling rain 

 through the attraction of the globe. 



The cause which develops in the inferior vapors a vitreous electricity is also 

 found in the tropical current, charged like the globe with resinous electricity ; it 

 repels from above downwards the resinous electricity of the diurnal vapors, as 

 the earth repels it from below upwards. The most elevated portion of these 

 vapors, being thus subjected to a resinous influence, becomes also charged with 

 vitreous electricit3\ As they grow opaque, these vapors assume a tint of glow- 

 ing white, and form the beautiful cumulus or brilliant cirrus which appears at a 

 great elevation. The vapors which receive the resinous electricity, repelled 

 from above downwards by the tropical current and from below upwards by the 

 earth, extend in large, slaty bands which can acquire no great thickness, since 

 they are confined by these two antagonistic forces. In a word, the diurnal 

 vapors, such as rise every day in all countries, and Avhich diffiise themselves 

 between the earth and the tropical current, are divided into three well-defined 

 and distinct strata, as, in summer and in the country, may readily be discerned 

 after the setting of the sun. A light, whitish mist is then observed in contact 

 with the earth ; above this appear large grayish strata ; still higher, white 

 masses of cumulus, or sometimes the refulgent ciiTus which seems to stretch 

 away towards the tropical cuiTent. > 



* It has been deemed proper to restrict the translation to a few heads only of this review, 

 and the reader must be left, therefore, in a measure to his own surmise as regards the degree 

 in which iilial veneration may have prompted the absolute claim here advanced on behalf 

 of Peltier to be regarded as the founder of meteorological science. — Tr. 



t Peltier, Mhnoire de M6t6orologie Electrique ; Arcliives d' EkctriciU de Gendvc, 1844, vol. 

 iv. No. 14. 



