1 62 ELECTRICITY IN STEAMY VAPORS. 



against the internal sides of the discharge pipes." 

 It was affirmed at that time that " evaporation and 

 condensation of water, independently of friction, 

 does not produce electric excitation, and we 

 must look to some other source for the origin of 

 lightning." 



It occurred to the writer that if properly tested, 

 electric action and reaction being equal, the con- 

 densing steam out in the air would exhibit this 

 reaction on pointed wires, like the condensing 

 vapors of thunder-clouds on lightning rods. He 

 remembered also that, on the discharge of steam 

 from volcanoes, lightning amid the vapors is seen 

 above their summits ; that atmospheric electricity 

 tips the spears of sentinels on lofty watch-towers ; 

 while in storms the masts and spars of vessels are 

 ablaze with the "fires of St. Elmo and St. Anne," 

 to the terror of superstitious sailors. 



Ijt had long been known, that on holding the 

 hand in a jet of high-pressure steam from a gauge - 



Fig- 59' 



