128 



With respect to the electrometrical experi- 

 ments, it was impossible for us, either on board 

 the Pizarro, or any other vessel in which we 

 afterward sailed, to perceive at sea the least 

 sign of tension, on making use of Bennet's and 

 Saussure's excellent electrometers. Mr. Bon- 

 pland has often taken the pains to carry these in- 

 struments, furnished with long metallic stems 

 and a lighted match, on the masts and yards 

 farthest from the hull of the vessel. These trials 

 were repeated in the South Sea, on board a 

 Soanish frigate with very high masts ; but the 

 gold leaf, the dryest straws, or little balls of elder 

 pith, which are electroscopical substances, never 

 indicated the slightest divergence. Is it the 

 surface of the ocean, that deprives the lower 

 strata of the atmosphere of it's electricity ? or do 

 the hull of the vessel, the sails, and masts, act as 

 powerful conductors ? If this action take place, 

 why did not our electrometers indicate electri- 

 city in open boats, while, on the coasts of Peru, 

 we have seen signs of a strong tension, when a 

 damp wind blew from the sea ? 



It is the duty of a natural philosopher candid- 

 ly to relate the circumstances in which certain 

 experiments did not succeed. As two thirds of 

 our atmosphere lie on the basin of the seas, 

 meteorology would gain considerably, if we knew 

 the electric state of this part of the aerial ocean. 

 We may be tempted to repeat the experiments I 



