EXTRACTS FROM M. PELTIER. 357 



pended between the rest of the cloud and the sea ; at other 

 times, on the contrary, the distance of the particles of va- 

 por is so great, that the electric communication, cannot be 

 made but by little discharges, of which the multiplicity of 

 sparks produces a hissing noise and the phosphorescent 

 light, which certain observers have seen. The phenomena 

 of statical and dynamical electricity, explain all the parts 

 of the meteor, whatever may be the variety of its forms, 

 and of its effects, without having recourse to any hypothetic 

 creation ; it is sufficient to keep in mind the electric tension, 

 its reproduction, the conductibility of localities, and their 

 saturation. Since we now know all the atmospheric cir- 

 cumstances which produce electric forces, and how to dis- 

 tinguish the primitive causes from the secondary, we will 

 give an account of the spout which devastated the Com- 

 munes of Fontenay and Chatenay, [near Paris] on the 18th 

 of June. 1839, and shew that every where the electric power 

 was the primitive cause of the meteor, and of the disasters 

 which it produced, disasters which were augmented by 

 secondary causes, by the impetuous winds which accom- 

 panied the storm-clouds, and by the suddenness of the 

 blasts, p. 145 150. 



190. On the 18th June, 1839, in the morning, thick 

 vapors had risen in the horizon, and formed a long band, 

 which extended, from the south to the north east of the hill 

 of Chatenay. The atmosphere was warm and dull. A 

 little before ten o'clock some claps of thunder were heard 

 at a distance; these claps became louder and more fre- 

 quent; and towards eleven o'clock the storm roared on all 

 sides. The heaven was streaked with long and brilliant 

 lightnings, and the rolling of the thunder was continual. 

 This first storm having formed to the south of Chatenay, 

 followed the ordinary march of storms, and took the direc- 

 tion of the valley which separates this village, from east to 

 west, from the hills of d'Ecouen. The clouds of which it 



