174 THE STORY-BOOK OF SCIENCE 



moment I was blinded by its brightness, as if I had 

 looked the sun full in the face. ' ' 



"The next storm," said Emile, "I will watch the 

 sky to see the ribbon of fire, but on condition that 

 uncle is there. I should not dare to alone; it is so 

 terrible. ' ' 



"I, too," added Claire, "will do my best to over- 

 come my fear, if Uncle is only there." 



"I will be there, my children," their uncle prom- 

 ised them, "if my presence reassures you, for it is a 

 most imposing sight, that of a stormy sky set on fire 

 by lightning and full of the rumbling of the thunder. 

 And yet, when from the bosom of the clouds there 

 comes the dazzling flash of the thunderbolt and the 

 whole region echoes with the crash of the explosion, 

 a foolish fear dominates you ; admiration has no fur- 

 ther place in your mind, and your terrified eyes 

 close at the magnificence of the electrical phenom- 

 ena of the atmosphere, proclaiming with so much 

 eloquence the majesty of the works of God. From 

 your heart, congealed with fear, there comes no out- 

 burst of gratitude, for you do not know that at this 

 moment, in the flashes of lightning, the uproar of 

 the shower, of the thunder, and of the unchained 

 winds, a great providential act is being accom- 

 plished. Thunder, in fact, is far more the cause of 

 life than of death. In spite of the terrible but rare 

 accidents that it causes, obeying in that the inscrut- 

 able decrees of God, it is one of the most powerful 

 means that Providence employs to render the at- 

 mosphere wholesome, to clear the air we breathe of 

 the deadly exhalations engendered by decay. We 



