324 



THE FIR TRIBE. 



fluids which they contain. If a small blade of 

 grass be placed in contact with the conductor of 

 a powerful electrical machine in operation, the 

 whole of the electricity will be found to be 

 carried off by the blade of grass. Pointed con- 

 ductors, and especially vegetable conductors, are 

 admirably fitted to receive and disperse electricity, 

 it having been found by experiment that a few 

 blades of grass placed near the brass knob at the 

 top of a Ley den jar, will quickly and silently 

 discharge it. It has been found impossible 

 to give an electric shock to a circle of peo- 

 ple standing on a lawn, as the electricity took 

 the shorter and better conducting course through 

 the grass ; and it has also been found, that 

 when the electroscope, (an instrument for mea- 

 suring the degree of electricity,) indicated abun- 

 dance of electricity in the free open air, it 

 indicated none in the \dcinity of a tree with 

 pointed leaves. It is not unfair, therefore, to 

 assume that every one of the myriads of pointed 

 conductors in the Pine forests of Norway and 

 Russia, is continually employed in withdrawing 

 electricity from the atmosphere, and contributing 

 to promote an equable electrical condition in the 

 atmosphere of places far remote. 



The flowers of the Pine are of two kinds, both 

 of which are of a simple structure, being desti- 

 tute both of calyx and corolla, and therefore not 

 liable to be torn by the wind. The barren 

 flowers are scaly catkins, and contain an unusual 

 quantity of pollen, which is sometimes carried 

 away by storms, and descends in remote districts, 

 in the shape of clouds of sulphur-coloured dust, to 

 the great terror of the superstitious. The fertile 



