Thunder and Lightning

htning into individual and family lightning, lightning of advice, monitory, explanatory, expostulat

rcumstance, but modern science has co

ctricity accumulated either in another cloud or on the ground. An electric deflagration ensues, and a long ignited dart precipitates itself into space, showing

e groups-diffused lightning, linear lightning, and fireballs. This last is the most curious of the three. The variety and eccent

of the night, to shine suddenly with an ephemeral brightness of a diffused red, blue, or violet tinge. Their irregular shapes, with their jagged edges of light, are visible against the dark background of the heavens, and the thunder growls monotonously. Whether the exchange of electricity is produced

ectricity. Suddenly the clouds are illumined, nebulous veils of light on which can be seen, in sombre fantastic, fugitive vision, the outlines o

destructive lightning. It is a strong flash-a thin trail of light-very clear, and extraordi

ts itself luminously into space, spreading itself men

ef of these seems to be the unequal distribution of humidity in the air, which renders it a more or less good conductor. In fact, fulminic matter is strongly attracted towards damp regions, and goes quickly from one point to another, guided in its chosen way by the hygrometrical conditions o

the overloading of electricity has s

es forked lightning. Or it even divides itself into a number of points

speed with absolute accuracy, but their rapidity is such that their transit appears to be instantaneous. The lates

re by the discharge; on the density of the air at the time of the passage of the ignited matter; on its hygrometrical state, and on the substances which it contains during su

s of the atmosphere. It traverses a bed of rarified air, and sh

uld easily take it to be a yard or so long, so illusory and deceptive are our impressions. As a

e comparison between the trajectory described by the meteor and the known distance of the terrestrial points between which it travels. In order to gauge the extent of

ch of every one. It consists in multiplying 337 (the number of yards traversed

s. When one thinks of the instantaneousness of these flashes, one marvels at their incomparable agility, and we can only be lost in admiration of the magic force of the heaven

on of the coal remaining impressed on the retina for the same length of time-we have a continuous circle. In turning our cardboard wheel with the black and white spokes, if each spoke passes before our eyes in less than the tenth of a second, we can no longer distinguish between the sections, but can only see a grey circle. But we can make it rotate a hundred turns or more in a second; this being done, if we continue to observe the circle, we can no longer see the lines, they succeed each other more quickly in our eyes than the impression

the will-o'-the-wisps, which come forth silently from marshy ground. The atmosphere is pure; there are no apparent traces of a storm, and yet the sky is glistening with thousands of small flames

he moment when the sky is lighted up that one can see the ridge of clouds lying low on the horizon. At other times there is no sign of a storm, as far as the eye can see. The atmosphere is quite clear, and yet the sky is swep

weather was perfect, and the sky absolutely serene. Now we know that storms, and the electric phenomena which they produce, are unknown upon that coast; but this immunity does not extend for

nstantine, sent us word, in 1899, of an int

the Arve above Salambes; when I came back to Algier

d in very thin lines. This lasted long, and was very near. Anot

most without interruption above the Savoy Alps. Each flash illuminated at the same time the ridge of the mountains and the fringed edge of the great sombre clouds lying low on the hori

een other records of this lighting up of

ces of longitude. The combustion of 180 to 200 grammes of powder, burnt in the open air, for each of the signals, produced a light which was o

stance of 20 and 30 kilometres we can see a sort of luminous vapour which floats above the town and reflec

during the spring and summer, as seen from the dark paths of the Bois de Boulogne, appears against the azure of the sky like a magnificent globe bathed in

ich are dark in themselves, shin

on account of the spherical shape of the earth or on account of the irregularities of the land, t

are quite as terrible as the flashes which are accompanied by thunder. If the noise which accompanies these is not p

les. Either the storm breaks too far from the observer, or the discharge has taken place between two beds of clouds, the low

. But this is quite inaccurate. Lightning sometimes ascends. Sometimes it descends and reascends. That is to say, after it reaches the ground

. This is a great mistake. There are many c

of lightning passed near him, striking a great rock. The unfortunate man was completely blinded, and plunged into darkness thus suddenly

anothe

enly felt a violent shock, accompanied by a feeling of oppression and giddiness and a semi-paralysis of the tongue and the whole of his left side. Next morning this had passed away, but in the evening at the same time as the shock had occurred, he felt similar sensati

to which we have already a

ch it set on fire. At the same time a woman who was in a house ten yards away, felt a shock, and saw the tiled floor rise beneath her. Her two sabots were broken on her feet, and a bottle of Holy Wa

scending lightning, published in the Comp

in his legs, then all over his body, and finally in his head, on which the hair stood on end to such an extent that he was obliged to hold his hat on in order to prevent its falling off. At the same time, a white flame burst from the ground about two yards in front of him, accompanied by a shower of s

irectly, there are other electric shocks which can be experienced by men and animals. Notable among these is the striking from the earth, commonly known as choc de retour,

s Histoire de l'Air, te

farmer and his wife were following, at some distance, a vehicle drawn by four horses. Suddenly the driver of this, without seeing the lightning or hearing the thunder, was thrown to the earth. His four horses were stretched dead on the ground near the carriage. There was a smoking hole in the ground,

etty, became hideous; the whole of her body as well as that of her husband was absolutely yellow. The four horses had their intestines dra

n passing that the man who was struck did not hear the thunder, and had not even time to see the lightning o

s the following example, w

ch driven by a young driver seated on a small seat in front, crossed over the Tweed. They had just climbed a small hill near the banks of this river when they heard a great detonation round about, similar to that which would be produced by the discharge of several guns. At the same instant the driver of the second cart saw the first, with his companion and the two horses, fall to the ground. The driver and horses were stone dead. The ground was pierced with three circular holes at the very spot where the wheels had touched it when the accident happ

eteor pass. Some moments later one of them got up feeling very tired, but the other was dead. The bones of the latter were so soft that it was e

me fulminating and act like lightning. After having been stru

. After the storm had passed, two soldiers from the neighbouring guard-house tried to remove the body, and each received a violent blow when they touched it. They got of

New World for the scientific mind-a mine, fruitful in unknown and even unsus

the fugitive lightning, which imprints itself on the sensitized plate, and the astronomer can afterwards examine the smallest details of the sudden apparition comfortably

elp of the cinematograph, we could have dramatic representations of sensational storms. While the photograph unrolls all the phases of the lightning, from its em

oduced when a change of electricity-a neutralization-takes place between two points

ere where an infinity of invisible molecules are floating; these it repels. The passage of this whirlwind of fire in a centre which is greatly comp

tself by a rush of the air which the lightning has ejected, and which is swallowed up with a crash in the opening which has been made. It is, on a la

s objection errs in its basis, because, as regards velocity, a cannon-ball is as a tortoise as compared with the arrow of lightning, and a

ferent clouds which make a storm being separately liable the one to the other, the discharge of one must lead to that of several others more or less distant.

ious tone, becomes grave and sometimes sinister in the revolution of space-this voice, celestial and infernal, seems to momentarily dominate the world, while the c

ishing variations. Generally it strikes and frightens, but the curious thing is that, for the

red to the discharge of fir

at Naples, the people present, among whom was Saussure

lightning, which struck M. and Mme. Boddington and flung the postillion to a great distance. The servants were untouched, and escaped with a fright. When they got over their terror, one of them said that a very brill

by a whistling noise, but as a rule

tning in its full length in one indivisible instant. The sound will form itself also at the same instant all along the line of lightning, but the sound-waves will only reach the ear of the observer at different times. That which starts at point E, the nearest, will arrive in 3 seconds, sound travelling about 337 metres a second. That which is formed at the same moment at point D,

THE DURATION OF T

his case, the sound which leaves point D just overhead, which is 1000 metres off, arrives alone in 3 seconds, but the sounds formed from D to E on one side, and from C to D on the other, arrive at the same time, having joined each oth

ION, AND DIMINUTION OF

ning is never straigh

ll more prolonged by a succession of small discharges, which follow each other very rapidly between the stormy clouds; by the zigzags and ramifications of the lightning caused by the hygrometrical diversity of the diffe

o, and isolate a single clap from the series of discharges which take place in the bosom of the storm. The longest verified duration of a single discharge is 45 seconds. That is tremendous if we think of the instantaneousness o

swift lightning, whose vibrations sprea

of lightning more than 15 kilometres in lengt

the number of seconds which separate the apparition of the lightning from the first growls of the thunder. Thus the longest interval

il, but the voice of thunder does not carry so far. In this the great Jupiter shows himself inferior to the ingenuity of human pi

Sometimes, in sieges and big battles the cannonades can be

ere bombarding. The cannonade of March 30, 1814, which crowned the First Empire, as it crowned the Second, was heard between Lisieux and Caen, a distance of 175 kilometres. Arago even alleges that the cannon at Waterloo coul

d is the most terrible of aerial messengers-a subtle messenger, malicious and violent, it is the terror of the human race. But ruled

ight hand! Why not? Was it not the auxiliary of the gods in the dark ages? To-day, is it not regarded by astronomers