[ 557 3 
Paris, July 22, 1752. 
Read Dec. I 4. p TT" n HE eledlrical experiments, which 
" " j[ have been made here during the 
thunder, are now fufficiently verified. Dr. Le Mon- 
nier, affitted by his advantageous fituation, has fuf- 
ficiently experienced, firtt, that a bar of iron, pointed 
or not, is eledlrifed during a ttorm : Secondly, that 
a vertical or horizontal fituation is equally fitting for 
thefe experiments : Thirdly, that even wood is elec- 
trifed : Fourthly, that, by thefe means a man may 
be fufficiently eledlrifed to fet fire to fpirit of wine 
with his finger, and repeat almoft all the ufual expe- 
riments of artificial eledlricity; for thus I denomi- 
nate that, which is excited by fridlion. 
Seeing, therefore, that thefe experiments fucceeded 
fo well, I attempted them at Paris with a tube of 
tin, eighteen feet in length, and of an inch and 
half in diameter ; half of which tube I put out of my 
window, while the other half was placed upon, and 
fattened to, filk lines : And though I live in the lowed: 
part of Paris, and my apartment in the Louvre is co- 
ver’d with an immenfe building, both in height and 
extent, at any time when the thunder was but mo- 
derate, I perceived therefrom figns of eledlricity. 
The fparks were more frequent after the lightning 
than after the thunder • and it even feemed, that the 
clap of thunder put a flop, for a very fhort time, to 
the force of the eledlricity. 
Monf. Caffini de Thury, who was defirous of ob~ 
ferving thefe effedls with the apparatus, which we 
had eredled upon the terrace of the obfer vatory, made 
the fame remarks ; and he has had a greater oppor- 
tunity 
