thunderstorm-bath, reminding us how " fresh, 

 cheerful, and elastic " we feel after a " warm or 

 tepid rain has penetrated to the skin," and how, 

 after being exposed to a thunderstorm and becom- 

 ing dry we are invigorated just as the flowers are 

 when they stand erect and look refreshed after the 

 passage of a storm. He says : " Why will they not 

 receive this united fire and water baptism from 

 above, and suffer themselves to be raised and 

 healed by the wonder-working arm in the thunder- 

 cloud ? ' ' He is practical when he advises a special 

 suit of clothes for the purpose, and the forming of 

 rain-parties when there is promise of wet weather 

 in the warmer seasons. If we incline to Richter's 

 belief, may we not reason that any form of dress 

 which insulates us in a high degree from the earth, 

 and thus prevents the passage of the atmospheric 

 electricity through our bodies, is detrimental to 

 us? 



This may furnish one of the reasons why one 

 feels best when he is able to run barefooted; also 

 it may explain why in some parts of Germany it is 

 claimed that many diseases maybe cured by simply 

 connecting one's self with an iron rod driven into 

 the earth. Possibly we may refer any good which 

 may be derived from the numerous patent devices 

 for " electrolibrating," " polarizing," etc., to the 

 fact that they are merely contrivances for electric- 

 ally connecting one with the earth, and have 

 nothing inherent in themselves as a means of elec- 

 trically influencing the body. If there, perchance, 

 be any good in these high-priced and much-adver- 



