GLOBE LIGHTNING. 211 



The ball, which was about as big as an orange, moved slowly 

 along the wires to the central station and struck the dynamo, 

 which was running. Before the eyes of the terrified workmen it 

 sprang twice from the dynamo to the wires and back. Then it 

 fell from the machine and burst into a shower of sparks without 

 doing any damage. The electric lamps nickered during its visit, 

 and the thick copper plates of the switch were melted and welded 

 in places. 



Of especial interest is the appearance of a large number of 

 balls during a tornado on August 18, 1890, in the French Departe- 

 ment Ille et Vilaine. A farmer of Vizy, who was caught by the 

 storm in the field, saw a fireball fall with great velocity. Panic- 

 stricken, he threw himself on the ground. The luminous ball 

 struck the earth, burst with a loud noise, and covered him with 

 dust. 



Dwellers in Vers 1'Eau and Samiset saw balls as large as a 

 man's head and of a vivid red, which moved slowly toward some 

 barns, where they vanished after setting the haystacks on fire. 

 In Saint- Claude a great number of balls entered dwellings by the 

 chimneys. They moved slowly to and fro and escaped through 

 windows, doors, and walls, after doing more or less damage. 

 The air in the houses was impregnated with the smell of sulphur 

 or gunpowder. 



The region of the Hochgebirge is especially favorable for the 

 observation of globe lightning. 



Alluard, the director of the observatory on the Puy-de-D6me, 

 reports that frequently during thunderstorms showers of small 

 balls of fire are seen falling. On the peak Saentis, in the same 

 region, where a meteorological station was founded at an ele- 

 vation of twenty- five hundred and four metres in 1882, some 

 very remarkable phenomena were observed by a minister named 

 Studer on June 28, 1885. He and a companion were caught out in 

 the storm after nightfall. All at once they saw on the ridge ex- 

 tending from Saentis to the neighboring peak of Altmann flaring 

 flames and small yellow balls of light. The latter ran along as if 

 on a wire, approached each other, then exploded and fell down. 

 A single larger ball of fire hovered over the same ridge, moving 

 to and fro in a flat parabola with about the speed of a ball thrown 

 by the hand, except that its velocity was uniform. It was visible 

 for several minutes. Then there was a frightful explosion, which 

 seemed to shake the whole mountain to its foundations, and a dis- 

 play of natural fireworks, " of a magnificence never before wit- 

 nessed," amazed the spectators. 



The telephone wire from the station to the valley glowed with 

 great brilliancy as far as it could be seen, and waving sheets of 

 fire extended from it to the ground. Suddenly the whole fiery 



