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vania, on the route between Philadelphia and New York; at one of 

 these places twelve poles were struck, and at the other eight. In the 

 latter case, the remarkable fact was observed, that every other pole 

 escaped the discharge; and the same phenomenon was observed, 

 though in a less marked degree, near the Hackensack river. In 

 some instances the lightning has been seen coursing along the wire 

 in a stream of light; and in another case it is described as exploding 

 from the wire at certain points, though there were no bodies in the 

 vicinity to attract it from the conductor. 



In discussing these, and other facts to be mentioned hereafter, we 

 shall, for convenience, adopt the principles and language of the theory 

 which refers the phenomena of electricity to the action of a fluid, of 

 which the particles repel each other, and. are attracted by the parti- 

 cles of other matter. Although it cannot be affirmed that this theory 

 is an actual representation of the cause of the phenomena, as they 

 are produced in nature, yet it may be asserted that it is, in the pre- 

 sent state of science, an accurate mode of expressing the laws of elec- 

 trical action, so far as they have been made out; and that though 

 there are a number of phenomena which have not as yet been re- 

 ferred to this theory, there are none which are proved to be directly 

 at variance with it. 



That the wires of the telegraph should be frequently struck by a 

 direct discharge of lightning, is not surprising, when we consider the 

 great length of the conductor, and, consequently, the many points 

 along the surface of the earth through which it must pass, peculiarly 

 liable to receive the discharge from the heavens. Also, from the 

 great length of the conductor, the more readily must the repulsive 

 action of the free electricity of the cloud drive the natural electricity 

 of the conductor to the farther end of the line, thus rendering more 

 intense the negative condition of the nearer part of the wire, and, 

 consequently, increasing the attraction of the metal for the free elec- 

 tricity of the cloud. It is not, however, probable that the attraction, 

 whatever may be its intensity, of so small a quantity of matter as 

 that of the wire of the telegraph, can of itself produce an electrical 

 discharge from the heavens: although, if the discharge were started 

 by some other cause, such as the attraction of a large mass of con- 

 ducting matter in the vicinity, the attraction of the wire might be suf- 

 ficient to change the direction of the descending bolt, and draw it in 

 part or in whole to itself. It should also be recollected, that on ac- 

 count of the perfect conduction, a discharge on any part of the wire 



