166 THE STORY-BOOK OF SCIENCE 



genius has ever conceived; his bold purpose was to 

 evoke the thunderbolt from the very depths of the 

 clouds, and to call down fire from heaven. 



"The kite that was to draw the thunderbolt from 

 the midst of the storm-clouds and bring it into the 

 intrepid experimenter's view did not differ from 

 those familiar to you; only the hemp cord had 

 through its entire length a copper thread. The wind 

 having risen, the paper contrivance was thrown into 

 the air and attained a height of about two hundred 

 meters. To the lower end of the cord was attached 

 a silk string, and this string was made fast under the 

 stoop of a house, to shelter it from the rain. A little 

 tin cylinder was hung to the hempen cord at one point 

 and in touch with the metallic thread running 

 through the cord. Finally, de Romas was furnished 

 with a similar cylinder that had at one end a long 

 glass tube as handle. It was with this instrument or 

 this exciter, held in his hand by the glass handle, that 

 he was to make the fire dart from the clouds, con- 

 ducted by the copper thread of the kite to the metallic 

 cylinder at the end of this thread. The silk cord and 

 the glass handle served to prevent the passage of the 

 thunderbolt, either into the ground or into the ex- 

 citer's arm; for these substances have the property 

 of not giving passage to electricity unless it is too 

 strong. Metals, on the contrary, let it circulate 

 freely. 



' ' Such was the simple arrangement of the ap- 

 paratus invented by de Romas to verify his auda- 

 cious prevision. What is to be expected from this 

 child's plaything thrown into the air to meet the 



