EXTRACTS FROM M. PELTIER. 365 



at an avenue called the Fosse, it was reduced to the size of 

 a stove pipe. It was here that it terminated, having first 

 divided itself in two. The upper part appeared itself di- 

 vided into ribbons of a brown and white color, and it 

 dissipated by degrees, in rising np like a light smoke, the 

 lower part appeared darker, and settled down on the 

 ground. 



An excavation was found in this place, which had not 

 been remarked before. All being terminated, the heaven 

 recovered its serenity ; and no one could doubt of the horri- 

 ble tempest which had just passed over the commune, with- 

 out the debris of all kinds which covered the earth. 



Though there were only four or five inhabitants at Fon- 

 tenay and Chatenay, who saw the globes of fire or flames 

 interpose themselves between the ground and the spout, 

 or between the parasite clouds, it was not the same with 

 those who saw the meteor at a greater distance, and who 

 were entirely beyond the influence of the clouds forming 

 and accompanying the spout. M. Dardelle, when he per- 

 ceived a cloud of fire burst over Chatenay, was so per- 

 suaded that it must be burnt, that he came express the next 

 day, in the morning, to see and know all the evils which 

 must have resulted from such a conflagration. All these 

 united facts leave no doubt, says M. Peltier, as to the first 

 cause of this phenomenon ; every where we find electric 

 phenomena; every where we see statical results of attrac- 

 tions and repulsions, and continued discharges between the 

 little bodies. The passage of M. Dutour, cited above, is 

 remarkable, in which he represents the cone of the spout as 

 formed by a number of small clouds, sporting with each 

 other, as our artificial clouds, serving for conductors of elec- 

 tricity. The raising and tearing away of heavy bodies 

 are also the effects of this powerful tension, which the 

 clouds alone can acquire, and which none of our experi- 

 ments can at all equal. Nothing can give us an idea of 



