On the Causes of the Tornado, or Water Spout. 155 
those of a Leyden jar or pane; the air performing the part of an 
electric in place of the glass, while the cloud acts as a coating. 
lt follows that the phenomena above mentioned as liable to arise 
between oppositely electrified bodies, may be expected to take place 
between the clouds and the earth, with effects as much exceeding 
those produced by human agency, as the snap and spark of an elec- 
tric battery are exceeded by thunder and lightning. If in the one 
case pith balls and other light bodies are lifted ; in the other, water, 
trees, houses, hay-stacks and barns may be powerfully affected.* 
If from a point electrified by a human contrivance, a blast of air is 
induced ; it is assuredly not unreasonable to ascribe to the analogous 
electrical apparatus of nature, aided by the elasticity of the air, a 
vertical hurricane. It was under the well founded impression that 
lightning may be superseded by a current, that we have been in- 
structed by Franklin, to surmount our lightning rods by metallic 
points, by which electrical discharges from thunder clouds are ex- 
pected to be conveyed to the earth gradually, which might otherwise 
pass in sparks of lightning of a formidable magnitude. 
If, then, it be demonstrated that a continuous discharge of electri- 
city may become the substitute for lightning, and that within the 
sphere of the discharge the air may be so lifted as to counteract its 
ture of the rise and fall of bodies situated be- 
tween oppositely electrified surfaces, which, in 
the gigantic operations-of nature, are conceived 
to be the exciting cause of the tornado. The 
a Tepresented by a are designated in 
“ erelé electrique,” and ma 
be thus ‘explained. A meta tallie rod supports one 
ball within the bell glass, another without, so as 
to be in contaet with the knob of another rod R, 
from the conductor of an electrical 
machine in operation. The brass ball being by 
these means intensely gi ——— st 
of the pith balls which lie 
in which the bell is situated, pe thick should 
* This figure affords an illustration in minia- Is 
Piyii?. 
the same \dievtrical state as at first, and are, of 
course, liable to be attracted again. 
