354 Neuj Outlines of Chemical Philosophy. 



This shower came from the f=ea ; it was about low water, an<J' 

 I was riding near the water's edge, consequently there were no 

 high objects to attract this element of combustion before it 

 reached me. 



It will be easily understood how these lights were produced 

 from the well known properties of electricity. The drops oi. 

 rain, being highly charged with one of the elements of com- 

 bustion, falling upon objocts coiuiccted with tlie earth, the other 

 element was attracted through those objects, and uniting upon 

 the most elevated j)oints, a slow combustion took place, pro- 

 ducing the illr.minations above described. 



Heat always increases the attraction between the two elements 

 of combustion ; but a contrary temperature produces a contrary 

 effect. 



In the north polar regions, where the sun never shines during^ 

 some months, the attraction between the thermogen of the air 

 and the photogen in the earth, being suspended, no heat is ge- 

 nerated ; hence the most intense cold prevails, till tlie rays of 

 the sun revisit those latitudes. 



And in our winter, th.e cold air from the north carries off the 

 heat from the surface of the earth, and as the sun's rays seldom 

 reach us at that season of the year, the weather becomes ex- 

 tremely cold, for the reasons mentioned above. 



But when the wind blows from the torrid zone, being of a 

 higher temperature than that from the north, attraction takes 

 place between the thermogen, which it contains, and the pho- 

 togen of the earth, the temperature of the air is soon increased; 

 and if the earth be covered witli snow, it is cither reduced into 

 water, or converted into atmospheric air. And vegetation un- 

 der the snow is always found in a forward state, for the ther- 

 mogen and photogen having attracted each other throtigh th« 

 snow, the temperature of the earth is increased above freezing, 

 although the snow still remains at that point. 



This hypothesis will receive some support from the following 

 extract taken from my journal. 



" March 17, 1814. The snow which began to fall about the 

 6th instant has been wasting away for some days, mostly by 

 evaporation. I have observed for the la-t two or three days, 

 little holes in the snow in the garden, roimd the plants and 

 sticks which ajjpear above it. Those holes are wide at the top 

 and narrow at the bottom, reaching to the ground. Query — 

 May not these sticks and plants conduct' tlie photogen of th« 

 earth into the atmosphere, by which means so mucli heat is ge- 

 nerated as to convert the snow into atmospheric air; or, to speak 

 in more familiar terms, to cause evaporation,? 



'* To solve Uju cluerv by experiment, 1 took* three cods : one 

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