110 TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



the reach of our investigation as they are, by 

 which its permanence is secured, must be con- 

 ceived as fitted to add, in each of the instances 

 above adduced, to the admiration which the 

 several manifestations of Intelligent Beneficence 

 are calculated to excite. 



CHAPTER XI. 

 The Laws of Electricity. 



ELECTRICITY undoubtedly exists in the atmos- 

 phere in most states of the air ; but we know very 

 imperfectly the laws of this agent, and are still 

 more ignorant of its atmospheric operation. The 

 present state of science does not therefore enable 

 us to perceive those adaptations of its laws to its 

 uses, which we can discover in those cases where 

 the laws and the uses are both of them more 

 apparent. 



We can, however, easily make out that elec- 

 trical agency plays a very considerable part 

 among the clouds, in their usual conditions and 

 changes. This may be easily shown by Frank- 

 lin's experiment of the electrical kite. The clouds 

 are sometimes positively, sometimes negatively, 

 charged, and the rain which descends from them 

 offers also indications of one or other kind of 



