1871.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 145 
House northwards and westwards towards Howrah, there ap- 
peared to me an almost continuous discharge of the electric fluid, 
and as the storm advanced Southwards and Eastwards, I observed 
the same phenomena extending, as nearly as I could ascertain, in a 
circle from the Fort up Park Street to the Martiniere and over 
towards the General Hospital. 
Mr. H.'Blanford, in reading Mr. James’ note, suggested that the 
appearance of sparks given off by the horizontal part of the con- 
ductor might perhaps be due to a discharge towards the falling 
rain drops. The zigzag flash returning from a struck object to the 
clouds and then back again to the earth may be ascribed to an 
optical deception. 
Mr. Ayrton, said :— 
Mr. James’ paper is certainly a vivid description of an Indian 
thunderstorm. It is, however, I think, to less startling displays 
that we must look for our physical information about atmospheric 
electricity. Not only during visible storms, but at all times there 
occur in the air phenomena which instruments electrically more 
delicate than our senses are able to see and measure. The best 
kind of such instruments, electrometers as they are called, require, 
however, that the air inside them should be kept artificially dry ; 
and unfortunately the season when observations of atmospheric 
electricity would be most interesting, viz. during the monsoon, is the 
very time when it is most difficult to maintain an artificially dried 
atmosphere. This difficulty, however, can be overcome when 
sufficient attention and time can be devoted to the management of 
the instrument ;—observations too of this kind are only valuable 
when made regularly. Therefore, I think that observations of 
atmospheric electricity can only be carried on with any practical 
benefit, when they are in the hands of aman who can devote his 
time to meteorological registration. I would, therefore, strongly 
recommend to those who have the management of the Meteorolo- 
gical Department at Calcutta, that arrangements should be made 
similar to those already existing at Greenwich and Kew for the 
registration of the electric potential of the air, 
The only steps that have, I believe, been taken to register atmos- 
pheric electricity inthis country consisted in two portable elec- 
