391 
N a t ural Philos ophy .—Elecir icily, 
ELECTRICITY. 
7. Singular Electrical Phenomena observed in Switzer- 
land. — On the 3d of May 1821, and when M. Allamand jun. 
was walking from Fleurier to Moutiers, in the canton of Neu- 
chatel, he was overtaken by a storm of thunder and lightning. 
Having closed his umbrella, lest its metallic point should attract 
the lightning, he perceived a band of light along the rim of his 
hat. Upon passing his hand over the luminous train, it be- 
came still more luminous, and the whole interior of his hand 
shone like a polished metal when it reflects a bright light. Find- 
ing that there was no danger in making this experiment, he re- 
peated it 15 or 20 times. This light was not attended with 
any crackling noise or electrical smell ; it lasted only for a short 
time, and always resembled a brilliant varnish applied to the 
surface of his hand. 
M. Allamand afterwards perceived another but less lively 
light upon the polished surface of the cross of his umbrella. 
Upon moving the slide over the luminous part, it became 
more brilliant, and in case of any accident he threw it from 
him. M. Allamand now tried to restore the luminous ap- 
pearance to the rim of his hat, by rubbing it with the siieve of 
his coat, but he could not succeed, which he attributed to the 
tall poplars which grew on the side of the road having attracted 
the electricity from the atmosphere. When he recovered his 
umbrella, he saw luminous points at the extremities of the whale- 
bone radii, which are terminated with a piece of metal. See 
the Bibliotheque Universelle , Join 1821, vol. xvii. p. 154. 
ELECTRO-MAGNETISM. 
8. Experiments of' M. Yclin on Electro-Magnetism. — M. 
Le Chevalier Yelin, a learned Bavarian, discovered some time 
ago, that needles of steel become magnetic when placed in a 
glass tube surrounded with a metallic spiral, and when electri- 
cal sparks or the charge of a Leyden battery were transmitted 
along the spiral. When the spiral was turned from left to right, 
and the sparks taken from the positive conductor, the end of 
the needle which points to it becomes a south pole, and the other 
the north pole, and vice versa. 
