246 



ELECTRICITY. 



determine the electric conductivity of liquids, 

 hitherto supposed to be insulators. Some of 

 the results were as follows: Alcohol was 

 easily decomposed, considerable quantities of 

 hydrogen, mixed with some oxygen, being dis- 

 engaged. Oil of turpentine is a far worse con- 

 ductor, requiring twice the number of Bunsen's 

 elements to decompose it as alcohol. Rectified 

 petroleum is decomposed with great ease. The 

 gas collected is inflammable, and during its 

 combustion it deposits carbon on the sides of 

 the bell-jar in which it is contained. This 

 deposit may be due to the presence of petro- 

 leum vapor in the liberated gas. By the appli- 

 cation of resisting coils and the rheostat the 

 comparative conductivity of the various liquids 

 experimented on could be accurately recorded. 

 The following are some of the numbers ob- 

 tained : 



An Explanation of Polar Auroras and some 

 Lightning Phenomena. In Comptes Rendus, 

 for May 31, 1869, is found a note by M. Le 

 Roux, suggesting an explanation of certain 

 meteorological phenomena. He had studied 

 the luminous effects produced by electrostatic 

 induction in rarefied gases, where the vessels 

 containing them were formed of a continuous 

 insulating material, and devoid of all metallic 

 communication with the exterior, and he re- 

 gards those effects as manifested by true cur- 

 rents which illuminate the gaseous masses in the 

 "body of which they are propagated. The same 

 causes operating on the large scale of Nature, he 

 thinks, must produce the luminous manifesta- 

 tions of the electricity of the globe to which is 

 given the name of polar auroras ; and he at- 

 tributes the diffused part of the glows which 

 constitute them to an electrostatical induction 

 seated in the highest strata of the atmosphere 

 under the influence of the discharges of the 

 aurora. On the same hypothesis he explains 

 a remarkable circumstance which often accom- 

 panies the lustre of the lightning-discharge. 

 When the lightning strikes, it produces an 

 illumination which surrounds the perfectly- 

 serene regions of the sky, when there are any. 

 This he supposes to be a manifestation of the 

 return-shock which must take place in the 

 higher regions of the atmosphere at the mo- 

 ment when, through the effect of the discharge 

 which constitutes the lightning, the clouds re- 

 vert to their neutral condition. As to heat- 

 lightning, so called, which is observed in a 

 clear sky at a certain height above the hori- 

 zon, he has no doubt that it is due to the same 

 cause the propagation of electric currents 

 through strata of rarefied air. 



ELLIOTT, CHARLES. 



ELLIOTT, CIIAELES, D. D., LL. D., a Meth- 

 odist clergyman, editor, author, and college 

 resident, born in Killybegs, County Donegal, 

 reland, May 6, 1792 ; died in Mount Pleasant, 

 Iowa, January 6, 1869. He became connected 

 with the Wesleyans very early, and, having re- 

 solved to enter the ministry in that connection, 

 commenced a course of study, and in 1815 ap- 

 plied for admission to the University of Dublin, 

 but was refused, because he could not consci- 

 entiously take the prescribed test. By the aid 

 of some of the eminent scholars connected 

 with the university, however, he succeeded in 

 obtaining an education fully equivalent to that 

 afforded in its regular course. He emigrated 

 to America early in 1818, and was at once re- 

 ceived into the travelling connection of the 

 Ohio Conference. For the first four years he 

 endured with cheerfulness the hardships of the 

 itinerancy in a new country, travelling over 

 extensive circuits, and experiencing all the 

 privations of pioneer life. In 1822 he was ap- 

 pointed superintendent of the mission among 

 the Wyandot Indians, at Upper San dusky, and 

 was about the same time appointed presiding 

 elder of the Ohio District. In 1827 he was 

 elected Professor of Languages in Madison Col- 

 lege, Uniontown, Pa., where he remained four 

 years. In 1831 he was stationed at Pittsburg, 

 Pa., and soon after appointed presiding elder of 

 that district. In 1833 he became editor of the 

 Pittsburg Conference Journal, one of the offi- 

 cial organs of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 

 and after some years was transferred to the 

 editorship of the Western Christian Advocate, 

 at Cincinnati, in which post he remained 

 till 1848. He then entered again upon the 

 regular work of the clergy, but in 1852 was 

 reflected editor, this time of the Central 

 Christian Advocate of St. Louis, and mani- 

 fested the same ability which had rendered 

 him so popular as an editor in his previous 

 labors in that field of effort. In 1856 he was 

 chosen president of the "Wesleyan University 

 at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and served in that 

 capacity till 1860, when he resigned, to com- 

 plete an historical work on which he was en- 

 gaged. In 1864 he was again elected president 

 of the university, and served till 1867, when, 

 feeling the infirmities of age, he asked to be 

 put upon the superannuated-list. Besides his 

 editorial labors, Dr. Elliott wrote a " Treatise 

 on Baptism," 1834 ; " Reminiscences of the 

 Wyandot Mission ; " " Life of Bishop Rob- 

 erts;" "Delineation of Roman Catholicism," 

 2 vols., 8vo, 1851 ; "History of the Great Se- 

 cession from the Methodist Episcopal Church," 

 1855; "Political Romanism," 1858; "History 

 of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the 

 South and West from 1844 to 1866," 1868. A 

 thorough scholar, with a vigorous and com- 

 prehensive intellect, a powerful and forcible 

 rather than a remarkably graceful writer, and 

 a man who did well whatever he undertook to 

 do, )r. Elliott has left behind him an enviable 

 reputation. 



