2G4 
MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND ART. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
We gladly hail among our correspondents the 
Rev. W. Scott, the Colonial Astronomer and 
Meteorologist, and we hope frequently to be 
favored with contributions from his pen. The 
plan he has set before .him of ollering a few 
short criticisms on such papers as may appear in 
our pages appears to us a useful one, and wo 
shall be glad to find it lead to friendly discus¬ 
sion upon them:— 
To the Editor of the Sydney Magazine of Science 
and Art. 
“ Observatory, Sydney, May 3,1858. 
“ Sra—It seems to me that, the 'Magazine of 
Science and Art might be made both more popular 
and more useful by the introduction of a num¬ 
ber of miscellaneous minor articles; such as 
short original notices, not aspiring to the dignity 
of Philosophical Societies' papers: extracts from 
recent scientific worhs of Europe, which may not 
be accessible to the great body of your readers; 
comments on and discussions of the scientific 
questions, and criticisms on the scientific pro¬ 
ductions of the day, particularly such as are 
producod in the Australian colonies. The ad¬ 
mission of such matter might, if judiciously 
managed, be the means of disseminating a largo 
amount of scientific knowledge, might greatly 
promote the interchange of original thought and 
acquired information amongst the scientific 
men scattered about the colony, and might thus 
tend greatly to the end which it is your business 
and mine to promote. 
“ Should you think fit to insert this leter, 
with the accompanying small contributions, in 
your next number, it may be the means of pro¬ 
voking others of a similar but more valuable 
nature from various quarters. 
" I am, sir, your obedient servant, 
“ W. Scott. 
" In the Magazine for January last arc two 
articles, which are so distinctly opposed to one 
another on one point as to call for some com¬ 
ment. 
“ One is by Mr. Jevons on clouds, the other 
on paragreles by Mr. Meston. 
“ In the former it is argued that in all proba¬ 
bility the violent electrical disturbances mani¬ 
fested in thunder storms, are the effects rather ■ 
than the cause of the heavy rains by which 
they are accompanied; and it concludes by 
saying that, ‘ It is unnecessary to suppose that 
electricity possesses any active agency in the 
production or modification of clouds.’ 
“ On the other hand, Mr. Meston produces 
evidence to show that hailstorms may be pre¬ 
vented in any particular locality by setting up a 
number of lightning conductors—paragreles as 
they have been called, from this their supposed 
property. If this be true it is evident that hail¬ 
storms must be the effect of electrical disturb¬ 
ance, and not the cause. 
“ M r. Jevons’s is no new theory. It is sug¬ 
gested in the report of the Royal Society’s Com¬ 
mittee of Physics and Meteorology, published in 
1840:—‘ Is this rain a cause, or a consequence, 
of the electric discharge ? Opinion would seem 
to lean to the latter side, or rather, wa are not 
aware that the former has been maintained or 
even suggested, yet it is very defensible.’ It 
had, however, been suggested, both by Schubler 
and Kamtz, at least eight years before. Thus 
Kamtz, after summing up his arguments on the 
nature of thunder-storms, says— 1 Das gewitter 
wird nicht durcli die. Electricitat gebildol; die 
dahei austretende electricitat ist nur folge des 
gewitter3.’ 1 The storm, is not produced hy the 
electricity; the accompanying electricity is only 
a consequence of the storm.’ And in a note he 
says— 1 Ich lratte diesen Sutz schon entwiekell 
ete mir die iihnliche Ansicht lion Schubler be- 
kannt war.' ‘I had already arrived at this conclu¬ 
sion before 1 was aware, that similar views were 
entertained by Schubler.’ 
“ But Mr. Meston instances eases in which the 
paragreles have saved, or caused to save, particular 
localities from hailstorms. Let us see what Kamtz 
can produce in the way of facts. In a translation 
of another of his works we read—‘ At Zurich and 
its vicinity the houses are studded with paraton- 
nerres’ (which cannot differ in their effects from 
paragreles) ‘ and I am not aware that storms are less 
frequent there than in other countries.' In another 
place tie speaks of the inutility of paragreles as an 
established fact. ' If it is unlikely that the forma¬ 
tion of bail is due to electricity, we can compre¬ 
hend the inutility- of paragreles.’ Again—‘Are 
not forests a collection of living paragreles, and yet 
they arc not spared by hail.’ 
“ On this disputed question we want more evi¬ 
dence, more facts; can no one supply them i” 
" Ateteorologyv. Climatology and ITeatherology ,— 
“Mr. Meston is a hold man; lie has made an 
attack upon the whole body of Meteorologists, 
finding fault both with our definitions and with 
our instruments. ■ 
“Meteorology, he says,in an article in Waugh’s 
Almanac, is of too limited a signification. Yet 
how limited ? Both by- its derivation and hy its 
universal application by men of science, it treats 
of everything that influences or is influenced by 
the state of the earth’s atmosphere. What can be 
more general and comprehensive 1 Surely it is 
better to retain such an all-sufficient term, used as 
it is by all civilized nations, than to introduce an 
awkward compound of English and Greek, such 
as Weatherology. 
“ Why are Electroscopes of so very little use as 
compared with Electrometers? In observations 
on Atmospheric Electricity two things arc to be 
ascertained, its Quality and its Intensity; the first 
is obtained by the Electroscope, and so, to a great 
degree, is the second. With a common gold-leaf 
Electroscope we can watch the changes of Inten¬ 
sity ; we can tell, at any time, whether the electric 
tension is greater or less than usual, whether it is 
increasing or decreasing; what kind of effect is 
produced hy the passing of a particular cloud, or 
by the falling of a shower of rain. We can even 
give a rough idea of the Intensity, by registering 
approximately the angle between the two slips of 
gold-leaf. What we cannot do with an Electro¬ 
scope, but can do with an Electrometer, is to 
register the numerical value of the Intensity at 
any time; a very trifling difference in the present 
state of the science, at least.as far as.Meteorology 
is concerned. For which we want to know just 
now is, how does Electricity operate in producing 
Meteorological Phenomena, not what is the exact 
quantity producing a given effect, or produced by 
a given cause, 
“ In chemical language, we are engaged not in 
Quantitative but in Qualitative analysis. 
