out by these eruptions, as is claimed by some, or 

 whether we get it by induction across space, as is 

 thought by others, we will not attempt to determine. 

 We do know, however, that the electric potential 

 does increase as we go up from the earth's surface. 

 According to Mr. McAddie, it can be measured 

 very accurately by means of his kite-experiment, 

 which bears some resemblance to Franklin's historic 

 one of so many years previous; there is, however, 

 a very marked difference between the conditions 

 which surrounded these two experimenters when 

 they sailed their kites into the skies. Franklin 

 courted the anger of the thunder-cloud and flew his 

 kite, with its pointed wire, into the face of death 

 so far as he knew. His theory of the identity of 

 electricity and lightning had not yet been proved 

 possibly it would be proved at the expense of its 

 originator's life; he knew that the electricity of the 

 Leyden jar was deadly to small animals, indeed his 

 own life had been shocked into insensibility by it. 



The ingenious Mr. McAddie flew his kite into 

 the blue of a cloudless sky, and took note of the 

 sparks discharged from the lower end of the in- 

 sulated wire connected with it. By connecting an 

 electrometer with the wire, he could usually tell 

 whether the kite was rising or falling by reading 

 the larger or smaller deflections of the needle. 



It may be of profit to consider, even if very 

 briefly, in closing this chapter, the effects of atmos- 

 pheric electricity upon man whether or not it 

 assists in his physical development and well-being. 

 Jean Paul Richter speaks of the value of the 



