1865.] Atmospheric Electricity. 11 



on the following morning and midday strong positive sparks were drawn, 

 and the electricity continued very strong positive during the remainder of 

 the day. No snow fell, but a strong west wind filled the air with drifting 



Hail. I have nothing to add under this head, except that on one occa- 

 sion (February 26th) strong positive sparks were drawn during hail 'accom- 

 panied by lightning and thunder. 



Sleet. One observation : rather strong negative. 



Fog. Always positive, and generally above the average strength, but 

 sometimes rather below. The fogs embraced in this account were few and 

 inconsiderable, never lasting more than a few hours, whereas the former 

 paper included some of a more decided character. 



Thunder-storms.' None of these occurred during the period embraced by 

 the former paper ; but there have been several since, and always marked 

 by very strong electricity. 



The first occurred June loth, distant thunder commencing about 1 P.M., 

 and a violent thunder-storm continuing from 4 h 30 to 6 h P.M. with a 

 deluge of rain, three-quarters of an inch falling in half an hour. Silent 

 lightning continued all the evening, and to an unknown hour in the night. 

 The electrometer showed, as usual, moderate positive, while the thunder was 

 distant; but observations from 4 h 36 m to 6 h 2 m showed electricity exces- 

 sively strong, with frequent changes of sign. The extremes were +104 

 and 121, the average fine- weather strength being 3 or 4. 



The next storm occurred June 24th. Observations were taken from 

 5 h 1 l m to 5 h 39 m P.M., during which time much thunder was heard, but no 

 lightning seen. The electricity observed was constantly negative, increa- 

 sing by a nearly regular advance from 29 to 214, this last being the 

 strongest electricity that I have ever yet found. No rain fell during this 

 observation, but '39 of an inch fell before 9 P.M., with some heavy peals of 

 thunder and vivid lightning. Immediately after the heaviest peal strong 

 negative electricity was found, but was not measured. 



On the evening of July 6th there was much silent lightning, the flashes 

 being at the rate of four or five a minute, some of them very vivid. The 

 electricity observed was weak, never rising higher than 1-8. 



The next storm occurred July 18th, and closely resembled that of June 

 loth, but on a reduced scale as regarded its external features. The indi- 

 cations of the electrometer, however, were quite equal in strength to those 

 observed on that occasion. The next day (July 19th) there was distant 

 thunder and lightning, with what appeared to be rain in the distance, from 

 about 3 to 4 P.M. ; and the electricity observed was very strong negative, 

 observations extending from 3 h ll m to 3 h o/ m . The observations on these 

 two days are given in extenso at the end of this paper. 



Silent lightning was observed on the evening of August 6th, the electri- 

 city indicated being moderate positive. 



On August 10th there was a deluge of rain with some thunder and light- 



