Thunder and Lightning

day in determining the still mysterious nature of these elusive forces. I, for my part, have been engaged upon the task for many years past. It has produced a big accumulation of records, and i

t almost say playful-fireball performance, of which M. Schn

along the floor in the girl's direction, began to rise quite near her and then round and round her, spiral fashion, darted off towards a hole in the chimney-a hole made for the stove-pipe, and closed up with glu

July 5, 1852, in a tailor's room, including the same curious detail

o avoid the contact, of which he naturally was in terror. After some seconds, the globe of fire rose vertically to the height of the man's face as he sat, and he, to save himself, leaned quickly back and fell over. The fireball continued to rise, and made its way towards a hole which had been made at the top of the chimney for the insertion of a stove-pipe in the winte

xact particulars. In both these cases we have to note the attraction of the hole in the chimney and the explo

the Association Fran?aise a some

tended a courtyard, sloping downwards towards a large pond, twenty or thirty yards away, beside which grew a poplar-tree. Suddenly there appeared a globe of fire, of the size of an apple, near the top of the poplar. We saw it descend, branch by branch, and then down the trunk. It moved along the courtyard very slowly, seeming al

the fireball escapes with a fright, and a few feet behind

the end portion of the central beam to the length of about half a yard (like a bundle of matches, but without setting it on fire), scattering the splinters over the upper story and loosening the plaster upon the walls below. It then rebounded o

vered an account of one of the most remarkable fireballs ever recorded in La Gloire d

zed with terror, priests, deacons, sub-deacons, choristers, together with the distinguished citizens of the town, who were carrying the relics upon their shoulders, all with one accord threw themselves on the ground, face downward. Then Gregory, remembering that on the occasion of the death of St. Martin, some of whose bones were among the relics being carried from the

e shown in silent wonder instead of being prostrated as in the story. Moreover, Gregory of Tours tells us in his life of St. Martin, that one day during Mass a globe of fire was see

remarkably harmless fire

m, as it were, made its way up under her clothes, and issued again from the middle of her bodice, and, still keeping its globular form, darted off into the air and exploded noisily. When it got under her petticoats, they blew out like an umbrella, and she fell back. Two witnesses of the scene

ry curious narrative is to be found. In all pr

e night of their wedding, an oscillating flame came into their bedroom through the window, went from corner to corner, and final

t the lady's attire was burnt in this way without harm to her person, ye

ming than its effects outside, but were very curious. For instance, bricks from one wall had been dashed horizontally against the wall opposite, with such extraordinary force that they were to be seen imbedded in it up above a dresser upon which pots and pans, etc., were ranged, and within a few inches of the ceiling, while the windows of the room had been smashed into bits, and

h a fissure in a partition into an adjoining dairy, where it carried a whole row of milk-cans, full of milk, from one side of the room to another, breaking the lids but not upsetting a

without further breakage, leaving the hus

dressing its victims. It displays much more skill and cleverness in such

ous instances of this on rec

s her, carries off and destroys her clothes and boots. She is left stark naked, a

were standing round a reaping-machine, when a flash of lightning struck Madame Legère and killed her on the spot. The two young g

Nord), when suddenly the tree was struck by lightning, and one of them-a woman-was killed. The six others were knocked to the ground without being

rnoon. The air was close and heavy, and the sky covered with black clouds. Suddenly there was a great thunderclap, and a flash of lightn

iot, who was mowing in a meadow, was struck dead by lightning whil

afterwards of his clothes was a shirt-sleeve, a few other shreds, and some pieces of his hobnailed boots. Ten minutes afte

ling what light

things out of your hand a

nging, has it torn out of his hands and destroyed. A whip is whisked out of a rider's hand. Two ladies, quietly knitting, have their knitting-needles stolen. A girl was sitting at her sewing-machine, a pair of scissors in her hand; a flash o

water during a storm, saw her holy-water bottle smashed actually in her fingers b

lash of lightning killed the priest and all the congregation, knocked o

g. An enormous piece of oak from un angle de construction was torn to shreds, and one splinter was lodged in the hinge of a window beh

ge axe. On January 20, 1868, this happened to a miller's assistant in a windmill

illow, against which doubtless he leaned. In a few minutes this one was struck by lightning. A bright flame was observed to be issuing from his clothes, but he remained standing, and seem

a moment four of them were killed by lightning. One of them was found dead, still holding between finger and thumb a pinch of snuff he had been in the act of taking. A second had one hand upon th

of Peyresy. Seventy-five of them were killed. The shepherd escaped. The sheep probably were all wet from the rain, and clingi

work. All the nails were found to have been torn out of his shoes, and the links of his silver w

ame way, but she was not killed. On the same day at Void (Meuse) two workmen, who had t

, a vine-dresser was struck by lightning and killed

h the extraordinary result that his beard was taken

by lightning. A wide furrow was to be traced on the crown of her head, caused by t

lightning lit up all the electric

practical joke in another! I have hundreds of quaint records before me. Impossible to deduce a

y-tree. A young man stood underneath. The young woman was

nd his sight was affected for ten hours. The extraordinary thing, however, in his case was that he had been a victim of rheumatism until then, and walked with difficulty and only with a stick, and that ever since this occurrence he has been able to do without the sti

e of "Judicia

kman of his. At the moment of his setting foot upon the scaffold, there was a terrible clap of thunder, and the cond

of strange cases with another occurr

out, the building was struck by lightning several times, and it looked as though it were enveloped in great sheets of flame. Millikan, who had been at some distance from the spot, rushed thither muc

s. And I have said nothing yet of the

mischievousness. It is the same with women. Women in their caprices are

that our knowledge of the universe is still very incomplete,

?le in our own lives which is still practically unrecognized. In the oppression we feel before the coming of a storm, and the sense of r