366 PHILOSOPHY OF STORMS. 



the enormous quantity of electricity which the clouds can 

 acquire, if we do not attend each year to those violent 

 storms which, for whole hours, are like enflamed volcanoes 

 darting from all parts long furrows of fire. 



We have not, says M. Peltier, mentioned the calculations 

 of M. Lalanne, on the force sufficient to overturn the walls, 

 because this distinguished engineer set out with the suppo- 

 sition that the wind was the disturbing force ; but, accord- 

 ing to my researches and my experiments, this force plays 

 but a secondary role : it is the electric attraction which is the 

 first cause ; it is that which we have seen besides tear up 

 the floors of chambers, penetrate and furrow the earth, trans- 

 port walls and debris of all kinds against the course of the 

 spout and the wind. The wind could not give an account 

 of the wall that was overturned in five parts, of which the 

 first, the third, and the fifth, were thrown towards the north 

 east, the second and the fourth towards the south west ; 

 whilst one of the particulars, often remarked in spouts, and 

 in particular, in that of Chatenay, is an oscillatory move- 

 ment of the extremity of the cone, which projects from 

 right to left the objects which it meets, an effect of which 

 we indicated the cause above. In fine, says M. Peltier, I 

 rely on the authority of M. Becquerel. This savant visited 

 the places with me ; he followed the march of the meteor ; 

 he saw the havoc which it made ; he examined the wit- 

 nesses concerning it, and he saw, like me, but one interpre- 

 tation possible, that of electricity for "the cause, (p. 151.) 



Not comprehending the connection between the storm 

 cloud and the violent gust of wind, they have attributed to 

 the latter all the effects, of which the cause remained un- 

 known, notwithstanding the impossibility of finding an 

 origin beyond the narrow limits of the perturbation, round 

 which calm and tranquillity reign. I never have been able 

 to comprehend how they have misunderstood the power of 

 attraction and repulsion of the electricity of these thick and 



