HO ON A?>.!0:.rilcntC PHENOMENA.. 



by the separation of the fluid, and its conveyance f© th<? 



Earth, in consequence of its great condensation, as well as 



of the water of the cloud being again taken up in solution 



Thesirprrovt- by the air, the storm ceases before this has happened. The 

 ins c«o; i .tit- ,, , , , . ... , 



cates its csssa- watei ' or clouds being again taken into solution by the air 



tioo. occasions a cooling- of the air, and presages a definitive ces- 



sation of its stormy state; while the heating of the air, or 

 com'nuation of its high temperature, denotes the continual 

 tio i of the decomposition, and is always followed by a re- 

 c iKocement of the storm. 



Hall. Hail arises from a strong fixation of caloric, which trans- 



forms itself into electricity, to gassify the principles of wa- 

 ter ; and sometimes from a too copious combination of the 

 same ealo ic converted into electric fluid to reunite the wa- 

 ter with the air; or from the same conversion of caloric to 

 reinforce the thunder, which endeavours to explode toward 



Lightning the Earth. This explosion of the thunder takes place either 



darting toward a ({ er a considerable recoroposition of water, or when, the 

 tae ground. 



greater part of the water of the storm being dispersed, the 



electric fluid remaining no longer finds any thing to which 



it can adhere, concentrates itself in a point, and acquires 



elasticity enough to overcome the opposition of the air, and 



rush toward the Earth, or some prominent points on the 



globe. As this passage of the thunder toward the Earth is 



not solicited by a state of subtraction, opposite, or negative 



charge, the course it follows is neither direct, or the shortest 



possible, nor determined to a given point; but its course is 



uncertain, irregular, and in some measure vague, bursting 



from one substance to another, even striking the ground 



and separating from it anew, without any other cause than 



the difficulty of diffusing or decomposing itself. 



Cause cf the ^° this difficulty of resuming an equilibrium, which it 



great mich.ef fi n ds no where broken, or of diffusing itself in a point of 

 done 07 light- , . , ; . , . . . 



mn „ * subtraction which no where exists tor it, are owing the ex- 



traordinary effects of the explosion of thunder, and the 

 incalculable means of destruction, with which we see it act; 

 and that even when it has already arrived at the ground * 

 -"where it ought to be able to diffuse itself, it still vaporizes 

 water with great force, splits stones, &c. To the same 

 cause is owing, that it proceeds so slowly, that it so long 



retains 



