412 Electrical Countries. 



tlieir electrical sparks, and yet the summit of Mont Blanc as 

 well as the sky were perfectly serene. 



2. Electricity on the Breven. — In 1767, during very 

 stormy weather, De Saussure, Jalabert, and Pictet were on the 

 Breven (altitude 2500 metres). There they had only to raise 

 a hand and to extend a finger to feel a kind of pricking at 

 the extremity. This remark, first made by Pictet, was soon 

 followed by another, that as the sensation became more apparent 

 it was accompanied with a kind of whistling. Jalabert, whose 

 hat was trimmed with gold lace, heard a fearful buzzing 

 round his head. They drew the sparks from the button 

 of his hat as well as from the ferrule of his cane. At last 

 the storm was so violent in the cloud which was in the same 

 plane with their heads, that they were obliged to descend from 

 the summit to 20 or 24 metres lower, where they no longer 

 felt the electrical influences. 



3. Electricity of the snow lying on the soil of the Jung f ran. 

 • — Snow lying on the ground, does not prevent these mani- 

 festations ; this fact results from the following details. 

 On the 10th of July, 1863, Mr. Watson, accompanied by 

 several other tourists and guides visited the summit of the 

 Jungfrau. The morning was very fine, but on approaching the 

 summit they perceived large clouds piled upon it, and when 

 they had almost reached it, they were assailed by a tremen- 

 dous puff of wind accompanied with hail. After some minutes 

 they were obliged to make a retreat, and during their descent 

 the snow continued to fall in such a quantity that the little 

 troop, mistaking the direction, travelled for some time in the 

 Latoch-Sittel. They had scarcely perceived their error when 

 they heard a violent clap of thunder, and soon afterwards Mr. 

 Watson heard a kind of whistling which proceeded from his 

 stick. This noise resembled that which a kettle makes when 

 the water boils briskly. They halted and remarked that their 

 sticks, as well as the hatchets with which each was provided, 

 produced a similar sound. These objects did not discontinue 

 their singular whistling even when one end was placed in the 

 snow. Presently one of the guides took off his hat, exclaiming 

 that his head was burning. His hair literally stood on end like 

 that of a person who had been electrified under the influence 

 of a very powerful machine, and all experienced a sensation of 

 pricking and heat in their faces and other parts of the body. 

 Mr. Watson's hair was straight and stiff, a veil which was round 

 another traveller's hat was lifted vertically, and they heard the 

 electrical whistling at the end of their fingers when moved in 

 the air. Even the snow emitted a sound analagous to that 

 which is produced by a sharp hail-storm. There was not, how- 

 ever, any appearance of light, which must have been the case 



