i88i.] 
Analyses of Books. 
423 
Electric Meteorology . An Endeavour to show the General Agency 
of Electricity in the Cause of Rain and its Allied Pheno- 
mena, with an Appeal for the Consideration of the Theory 
advanced. By G. A. Rowell. Oxford : Slatter and Rose. 
This work, though small in compass, contains much matter 
worthy of careful consideration. The author is a heretic in 
science, for he considers electricity not as a modification of 
energy, but as a substantive entity, — in short, an “ imponder- 
able,” capable of occupying space, but having a buoyant power 
or a minus weight. It is attracted by bodies in proportion to 
their temperature. The dryness of high-pressure steam and its 
harmlessness on coming in contact with the skin are ascribed to 
the particles being kept apart by coatings of electricity. 
A similar explanation is given of the effects of “ superheated 
metals,” as in the experiments of Leidenfrost, Boutigny, &c. 
The author quotes and rejects the theories of Boutigny and 
Tyndall. 
Fog, Mr. Rowell explains as being “ composed of particles 
of water, each enveloped in a coating of electricity in the pro- 
portion of 860 to 1, together with atmospheric air in an inverse 
ratio to the density of the fog.” 
The cause of rain he pronounces to be vapour having lost the 
electricity by which it was previously supported. He believes 
that an upward stroke of lightning from the earth to the clouds 
is an impossibility. The agency of trees, especially conifers, in 
increasing rain and in preventing hail, seem to speak on behalf 
of some portion of Mr. Rowell’s theory. Prof. Rolleston, in a 
lecture delivered May 12th, 1879, quotes certain observations of 
M. Becquerel on the effects of the destruction of forests as being 
in favour of Mr. Rowell’s views. 
We beg to bespeak for this little pamphlet the careful attention 
of meteorological observers. The only persons who can fairly 
criticise Mr. Rowell are those who have the opportunity of regu- 
larly studying and recording the changes of the weather. That 
our received meteorological notions are exceedingly imperfect is 
generally admitted. 
The Glacial Beds of the Clyde and Forth. By T. Mellard 
Reade, C.E., F.G.S. Liverpool : Tinling and Co. 
This memoir is a reprint from the Proceedings of the Liverpool 
Geological Society. The conviction has forced itself upon the 
author that there has been a tendency to unnecessarily complicate 
these Glacial phenomena, — to raise every gravel bed into a 
