23 
be increasing its charge — the local charging causes being in 
excess of the local discharges. 
Next, would not this excessive charge appear to increase 
the barometric pressure of the air over the whole earth ? 
On the other hand, we may imagine the discharging 
influences to be sometimes in excess of the charging causes, 
and then the electrical separation of the Earth Jar would 
diminish, and the barometric pressure of the air appear to 
diminish also. 
These remarks are put forward not as a formal theory, 
but rather with the view of inviting discussion. In con- 
sidering a fact such as that brought forward by Mr. Broun, 
we must first endeavour to explain it by the operation of 
some known cause. I have therefore introduced a force 
which we know to exist, and a mode of operation which is 
not at first sight improbable. It may be thought that 
electrical separation can hardly be great enough to produce 
a sensible barometrical difference. Let this be proved, and 
a point will be gained by the dismissal of what seems at 
first sight a possible hypothesis. 
Meanwhile-— to bring these remarks to a practical issue- 
might it not be well to examine the records of atmospherical 
electricity corresponding to the dates of Mr. Broun’s obser- 
vations with the view of ascertaining whether Mr. Broun’s 
results are in any way connected with the electrical state 
of the earth’s envelopes. 
“ On the Manner in which Kaindrops and Hailstones are* 
Formed,” by Professor Osboene Keynolds, M.A. 
When the particles of water or ice which constitute a 
cloud or fog are all of the same size and the air in which 
they are sustained is at rest or is moving uniformly in one 
direction, then these particles can have no motion relatively 
to each other. The weight of the particles will cause them 
to descend through the air with velocities which depend on 
their diameters, and since they are all of the same size, they 
will all move with the same velocity. 
