[ 2 r 4 ] 
“ ordered him to lower the vane, and come down; 
“ but fcarce had he taken it from its place, but 
“ the fire left it, and fixed itfelf upon the top of 
" the mainmaft, from which it was impofiible to 
“ remove it; and continued there a confiderable time, 
<e until it went out by little and little, &c 
If all the authors, who have taken notice of St. 
Helmo’s fire, had fpoken of it as this juft quoted, 
philofophers might have reproached themfelves for 
its having been fo long before they had a juft idea 
thereof, and for their not having fhewn the principle 
upon which it depended. But how few hiftorians 
are there, who could have related this faCt with cir- 
cumftances fo proper to put us in a right train, as 
thofe juft mentioned ? 
And here I cannot but obferve, as I am con- 
“ vinced, that the matter of thunder and that of 
u of electricity are one and the fame, how vaft an 
tc idea muft the attending to the before-mentioned 
“ paflage excite in the mind of perfons, accuftomed 
i€ to the phasnomena of electricity ? How immenfe 
“ a quantity of it muft they conceive to have been at 
that time in the atmofphere furrounding the fhip, 
“ and within the verge of its aClion, to furnifh more 
“ than thirty St. Helmo’s fires ; the fame, in faCt, 
which we fee at the ends of our conductors in 
“ eleCfrifing, one of which was more than a foot and 
u half in height? At this time, and under thefe cir- 
4 4 cumftances, the mails, yards, and every part of 
“ the fhip, I confider as conductors of electricity, 
a between the, at this time eleCtrifed, atmofphere, 
“ and the fea : and tho’, being of a vegetable nature, 
u and, if dry, even of the worft kind for this pur- 
<c pofe. 
