Tranfition of Lightning.— Hungarian Bread. 267 



as they came within the ftriking diftance. In this fituation, it may be imagined that the fup- 

 ply or communication might continue to be made by the eaftern part of the cloud ailing in 

 the manner of a point, while the weftern part emitted fla(hes ; a fuppofuion which is ren- 

 -dered more probable by the confideration that moft thunder-clouds are ragged or pointed on 

 •one fide, and round or fwelled on the other; and alfo that the difpofition of any conductor to 

 receive eleftricity without explofion is much greater than to give filently, even when the ter- 

 minations are alike. I conjefture, ther<!fore, that the lightning carae from the eafl:, and pafled 

 through the clouds to the weft; that the pofterior extremities of the clouds were illuminated 

 as points ufually are ; that the eledric motion of thefe low clouds at firft caufed an 

 eafterly wind ; that fome change in the general ftate of cleftricity, or perhaps the mere ex- 

 haufted ftate of the clouds, caufed them to pafs rapidly back to the original refcrvoir, as in 

 the moft common experiments of electricity ; that this return produced firft a ftrong eddy 

 in the lower air, which threwup the duft, and afterwards a contrary ftream of wind, by 

 which the rain was beaten againft the weft front of the houfe. But why the clou 's fliould 

 have been illuminated with a red colour during their weftern courfe, and afterwards with 

 blue, does not feem deducible from any fafts I know of. It may perhaps be analogous to 

 the colours of the aurora-borealis. The contrary lower current, when the clouds were 

 moving to the north, feems to have been a natural confcquence of their remotenefs. It is pro- 

 bable that the returning current of the air, which muft have been driven before the mafs 

 of clouds when they were moving very near the earth, took place entirely in the upper part 

 of the air, where, in that cafe, there was more room. 



VII. 



The Method of niahing excellent Bread -without Teajf ; as praclifed at Debretzin in Hungnry *. 



By Robert Town son, LL. D. F. R.S. Edin. 



L, 



ilGHTER, whiter, and better-flavoured bread than that made here I never ate, nor did 

 I ever fee elfewhere fuch large loaves. Were I not afraid of being accufed of taking ad- 

 vantage of the privilege of travellers, I fhould fay they were near half a yard cubed. As 

 this bread is made without yeaft, about which fuch a hue and cry is often raifed, and with 

 a fubftitute which is a dry mafs, that may be eafily tranfportcd, and'kcpt half a year or more, 

 I think it may be of ufe to my country for me to detail the Debretzin art of making bread. 

 The ferment is thus made : Two good handfuls of hops are boiled in four quarts of water: 

 this is poured upon as much wheaten bran as can be well moiftened by it : to this are added 

 four or five pounds of leaven ; when tliis is only warm, the mafs is well worked together 

 to mix the different parts. This mafs is then put in a warm place for twenty-four hours, 

 and after that it is divided into fmall pieces, about the fize of a hen's egg, or a fmall 

 orange, which are dried by being placed upon a board, and cxpofed to a dry air, but not to 

 the fun ; when dry, they are laid by for ufe, and may be kept half a year. This is the 

 ferment, and it may be ufed in the following manner : For a baking of fix large loaves, 

 fix good handfuls f of thefe balls are taken and diflblved in feven or eight quarts of warm 



• TravcUnn Hungary, 410, I^ondon, 1797, page 241. 



f I fupi)ofe broken into frajjmCius ) tht balls tlicniftlves being too lar;;(ito be mearuad by handsful. N. 



M m 2 water. 



