80 



THE EFFECTS OF LIGHTNING. 



■ed its volume until it attained the height of from twelve to fifteen feet. After 

 having risen through several fathoms in a diagonal direction nearly to the height 

 of the organ gallery, it disappeared with an explosion like the report of a cannon 

 discharged in the church." 



The fire evolved from the earth by the influence of atmospheric causes, is 

 not extinguished by passing through water. 



On the night between the 4th and 5th of September, ] 767, during a violent 

 storm, the keeper of a fish-pond near Parthenai, in Poitou, saw the entire pond 

 covered with a flame so dense as to prevent him from seeing the surface of the 

 water. The next day dead fish floated on the pond. 



The existence of a storm in the air is not a necessary condition in the causes 

 which govern the evolution of these terrestrial fires. 



On the 4th of November, 1749, in latitude N. 42° 48', longitude W. 2°, a 

 few minutes before noon, the sky being unclouded, a globe of bluish fire, having 

 the appearance of a mill-stone, rolled rapidly along the surface of the sea 

 toward the British ship Montague. At a little distance from the vessel it rose 

 vertically from the water and struck the masts with an explosion like that of 

 several hundred pieces of artillery, committing much damage to the masts and 

 rigging. Five sailors were laid senseless on the deck, one of whom was se- 

 verely burned. The usual effect of lightning were observed. A sulphureous 

 odor was diffused through the ship, and large iron nails, torn from various parts 

 of the vessel, were projected on the deck with such force that strong pincers 

 were necessary to draw them out. 



Sometimes luminous emanations assume the appearance of a cloud of light, 

 maintaining a stationary position. 



Major Sabine and Captain James Ross, in their first northern expedition, being 

 in the Greenland seas, during one of the dark nights of these regions, were 

 called up by the officer of the deck to observe an extraordinary appearance. 

 Ahead of the vessel, and lying precisely in her course, appeared a stationary 

 light, resting on the water and rising to a considerable elevation — every other 

 part of the heavens and the horizon, all around the ship, being as black as 

 pitch. As there was no known danger in this phenomenon, the course of the 

 vessel was not changed. When the ship entered the region of this light, the 

 officers and crew looking on with the liveliest interest, the whole vessel was 

 illuminated, the most elevated parts of the masts and sails, and the minutest parts 

 of the rigging, became visible. The extent of this luminous atmosphere might 

 have been about 450 yards. When the bow of the ship emerged from it, it seemed 

 as if the vessel were suddenly plunged in darkness. There was no gradual de- 

 crease of illumination. The ship was already at a considerable distance from 

 the luminous region, when it was again visible, as a stationary light astern. 



This narrative was addressed to M. Arago in a letter from Dr. Robinson, of 

 Armagh, who received it from MM. Sabine and Ross. " The cause of these 

 phenomena," says M. Arago, " to use the beautiful expression of Pliny, is still 

 hidden in the majesty of nature." 



Besides these unusual luminous phenomena, many philosophers, among 

 whom are Maffei and Chappe, have maintained that storms are almost always at- 

 tended by common lightning, which issues from the earth and strikes the clouds. 

 Nor are such statements made in a general and vague form, but the partisans 

 of this doctrine declare that they have, themselves, distinctly seen such light- 

 ning rise like a rocket. If such statements be correct, it must be assumed 

 that the speed of this ascending lightning is infinitely less than that of the 

 cuspidated lightning, since the progressive motion of the latter cannot be ob- 

 served. The ascending lightning, if the accounts of it be correct, must be 

 analogous in its motion to ball-lightning. 



