Electrical Phenomena in certain houses. . 321 
and appear to be in tolerably good condition. About ten feet 
d 
from the top is a break in the rod and the two: portions are 
looped together. From this point the rod is continuous to the 
bottom and enters the ground to the depth of about three feet 
where the earth at the time referred to was quite moist. The rod 
is about five-eighths of an inch in diameter. 
Se) 
The preceding caseedemonstrates to my mind that itis unsafe = 
to rely upon a rod to protect a circle whose radius is more than ~ 
once and a half the height of the .rod,’at least upon’ the west 
side, being that’ from which yeti showers generally come in 
this latitude. 
APE. XXVI.— On the Electrical Phenomena of Certain Houses ; = 
of M 
- by Extas Loomrs, Prof. athematics and Natural Philoso- 
» phy in New York University. : 
san 
aven, August, 1 
aay - 
- -‘Wiruin the past few years, several en in the city of New 
York have exhibited electrical phenomena in a very remarkable 
rr ree, For months i in succession they have emitted sparks o 
_ considerable intensity, accompanied by a loud snap. A stranger 
on entering one of. these electrical houses, in attempting to shake 
~ hands with the hes apes receives a shock which is quite notice- 
able and somew hat un os Ladies in seeping, to eau each 
e mouth, and was ‘very much pion j ag ae 
kia ee ‘she epee first to touch the tube with her finger. 
passing from”one parlor to. the other, if she chanced to step 
Upon the brass plate which served as a slide for the folding doors, 
she received an unpleasant shock in the foot. When she touched 
her finger to the chandelier (the room was lighted with gas by a 
chandelier suspended from the caling) there appeared a brilliant 
and a snap as in the discharge of a Leyden Jar of good size. 
Tn many houses the phenomena have ‘heen so remarkable as to 
Occasion ‘general surprise and almost alarm 
After a careful examination of several cases of this kind, I have 
- come to the “eager ee that the electricity is excited by the fric- 
_ tion of the shoes of the inmates upon the arene of the house, 
Sxconp Szares, Vol. X, No. 30—Nov., 1850. 
“2 i 
ey Read before the American Aare for the rice: ae: of Science at i pee 
