fcli ACCOUNT OF THE LATE THUNDEtl STORMS. 



cumnlo-stratus, to the ciuro-stratus and cirro-cumulus; the 

 latter posj^^ely charged, and considerably retentive of its 

 charge ; the former less perfectly insulated, and, perhaps; 

 conducting horizontally ; we Arrive thus at the region, where 

 the cirrus, light, elevated, and esteuded, obeys every impulse 

 tjr invitation of that fluid, which, while it find.s a cooductorj, 

 ever operates in science; but which, embodied and ln^ulated 

 in a denser collection of watery atoms, sooner or later burstg 

 its barn#r, leaps down in lightning, and glides tbfipugh the 

 nimbus from its elevated station to the Earth. 



. VUL 



Account of the Thunderstorms on the IQth of August. In a 

 letterfrom Thomas Forster, Es<i. 



^ ' To Wm. NICHOLSON, Esq. 



i"ininaer- JL Wl&h to communicate to your meteorological readers 

 8iorms on the gQ^nt^ observations on the thunderstorros, that happened o!) 



the 19th Inst., of which I shall request your insertion. 

 Weather en The ISth was warm, the maximum of the thermometer 

 the iBth. being about 73°. Cvymtii prevailed during the day, biit 



-tdVard* evening the cir»M5 appeared. 

 The first «,torm. Before S o'clock in the> morning of the 19th, the sky was 

 e cribed. clouded, i observed two */ro/« ; the upper one appeared to 

 be a uniform veil of Olouc^i^.hile loosfe Hocky cumuli floated 

 beneath it ; and in some jplaces large masses seemed to Jbe 

 attracted towards it, and adhered to its surface, forming aji 

 uhuHUHl wavy sky, which increiised in deiisity. About half 

 after eight I heard a single explofiinn, like the report of k 

 large brass cannon ; about twenty minutes after which two 

 more sui:h reports were heard, jfqUowing each other in rapid 

 succession, which were Immediately succeeded by a long 

 and loud peal of rolling thunder.. The storm ^low carae up 

 very fast, in a diVection nearly co'.itrary to that of the current 

 of wind below, WithJ[iard rain, and thunder and liglvtning. 

 InteiTal, Aft€r the storm had subsided, cwwzw/i were again seen sailing 



under 



I 



