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with any perfon engaged in the inquiry. At prefen* 
indeed, when we know, from the experiment of 
Marly-la-ville, that a rtormy cloud is a great electric 
mafs, the action of which extends itlelf fenlibly even' 
to bodies, which are upon the furface of the earth, 
we mud agree, by reflecting on them, that the lights',, 
which have been feen upon the erodes placed on the- 
tops of feveral fteeples, thofe, which the Roman fol- 
diers faid they had obferved at the end of their pikes, 
and thofe lambent flames, which appear upon the 
marts of fhips, which mariners call St. Helmo’s fire, 
are fo many electrical phenomena. But until the mo- 
ment that this experiment was made, which open’d 
our eyes with regard to the portability and nature of 
thefe marvellous effects, thefe appearances were re- 
garded either as popular illufions, or falfe prodigies',, 
or even as luminous vapours, which might be ranged 
in the clafs of phofpbori. Moreover, as thefe were 
feen but feldom, if ever we had been tempted to at- 
tribute them to the influence of rtormy clouds, we 
might have been diffuaded therefrom, by confider- 
ing the little agreement there is, between the rarity' 
of 
fires ; by the Italians, the fires of St. Peter and St. Nicholas, and 
are frequently taken notice of by the writers of voyages. 
If fome late accounts from France are to be depended upon, we 
are informed, that at Plauzet it has been obferved for time imme- 
morial ; and M. Binon,. the cure of the place, bears his teftimony 
of the truth, that, for twenty-feven years, which he has refuted 
there in that capacity, in great ftorms, accompanied with black 
clouds, and frequent lightnings,, the three pointed extremities of 
the crofs of the fteeple of that place eppear furrounded with a body 
of flame ; and that, when this phenomenon has been feen, the 
ftorm was no longer to be dreaded, and calm weather returned foon 
after. 
