ug. 
140 Additional Objections to Redfield’s. Theory of Storms. 
93. In November last, subsequently to the submission of the 
opinions above expressed to the Academy, I verified a conjecture 
of my friend Dr. J. K. Mitchell, that moist, foggy or cloudy air 
is not a conductor of electricity, its influence, in paralyzing the 
efficacy of electrical apparatus, arising from moisture deposited 
on adjoining solid surfaces. 
. A red hot iron cylinder, upon which evidently, no moisture 
could be deposited, suspended from the excited conductor of an 
electrical machine, was found to yield sparks within a receiver 
replete with aqueous vapor, arising froma capsule of boiling 
water. be 
95. Hence it appears that bodies of air, whether. cloudy or 
clear, may be oppositely electrified, from each other or from the 
earth. This would explain the gyration ona horizontal axis 
which seems to be attendant on thunder gusts, and may account 
for the ascent of the southeaster and descent of the northwester 
in the great storm of Dec. 1836, described by Prof. Loomis. 
96. Such gyration may be a form of convective discharge, in 
which electrical reaction is assisted by calorific circulation and 
the evolution of latent heat, agreeably to Dalton and Espy. 
97. Sqnalls may be the consequence of electrical reaction be- 
tween the terrestrial surface and oppositely excited masses of air, 
and the intermixture of masses so excited, in obedience to the 
same cause, may be among the sources of rain, hail, and gusts. 
The specific gravity of a body of air, electrified differently from 
tf surrounding medium, may be lessened by what is called elec- 
tric repulsion; the particles inevitably moving a greater distance 
from each other, assimilarly electrified pith balls are known todo. 
_ 98. Hence a cause of rarefaction, buoyancy, aud consequent 
upward motion, in a column of electrified air, more competent 
than that suggested by Espy. = ree 
99. Should it be verified that'a gyration from right to left takes 
place, during convective discharges of electricity in hurricanes, it 
may be referrible to the disposition which a positive electrical 
discharge from the earth to the sky would have to gyrate in that 
os 
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