and extraordinary Electrical Phenomena. 339 



to the south of east, Buxton and Adlington to the south-east, 

 and Wilmslow nearly south of Manchester. Now if we sup- 

 pose these coruscations to have moved from south-west to 

 north-east, and some of them at no great elevation above the 

 earth or distance from Manchester, they would appear to 

 move from right to left at that town or its vicinity; but if the 

 same were observed at Marsden House, Adlington or Wilms- 

 low, they would appear to move in an opposite direction with 

 regard to the spectator, or from left to right, although in both 

 cases their motion would actually commence in the south-west 

 and be continued towards the north-east. 



Considering the distance of Buxton from Manchester, it is 

 not likely that the same coruscations would be seen at both 

 places; nor would those observed near Buxton be identical 

 with those seen near Marsden House, Adlington or Wilmslow, 

 on account of the lofty hills intervening, and the low elevation 

 of the electrical discharges seen at the latter place ; it is there- 

 fore probable that these discharges of the electric fluid were 

 not confined to a very limited space, but prevailed in the at- 

 mosphere over a considerable district of country, and at a very 

 moderate elevation ; but there is not sufficient evidence to 

 enable us to determine either their height, or to what extent 

 they prevailed. 



Mr. Chrimes states that he did not hear any sound as if it 

 proceeded from the coruscations of light which he observed 

 in the neighbourhood of Wilmslow ; although at the same 

 time he heard distant thunder in the west, but not any sound 

 in the north or north-east, although that was the direction in 

 which the lights were observed to pass and disappear. And 

 as all parties agree that these brilliant ramifications did not 

 proceed with the usual velocity of lightning, is it not probable 

 that their motion was not sufficiently rapid to cause such a 

 violent concussion in the air as to produce sound ? 



There were no very dense clouds where the coruscations 

 appeared ; but in the same direction the sky was mostly ob- 

 scured with clouds of different heights, some of which, as well 

 as various strata of the air, were probably in different states of 

 electrification, whereby the electric fluid might be induced to 

 pass from clouds positively electrified to those in a negative 

 state, or to a stratum of air negatively electrified. In the 

 passage of electricity from a body positively electrified, it fre- 

 quently becomes divided into various branches, especially as 

 it approaches the negative body: this is often illustrated in 

 the progress of electrical discharges from the clouds to the 

 earth, when they are observed to be divided into several 

 branches as they approach the ground. Similar appearances 



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