Thunder and Lightning

e most mysterious, and certainly the least

in form and size recall the electric lights in our Paris boulevards. Curious the contrast between electricity tamed and civilized and electricity running wild!

ntil quite recent times they were regarded as the figment of excited imaginations, and wise men smiled at the

on. Sometimes they are furnished with a red flame like a fuse that has been lit. Sometimes their course is simply that of a falling star. Sometimes they leave behind them a luminous trail which remains visible long after they themselves hav

s. In our first chapter we gave several instances of the occurrence of fireballs. Let us look at some more. Here is one taken from Arago's lear

light set flashing like threads of gold, when I suddenly heard voices in the street calling out 'Guarda, guarda!'-'Look, look!' and at the same moment a clatter of hob-nailed boots. After half an hour of absolute silence, this noise attracted my attention. I ran to the window, and looking to the right, in the direction of the clamour, I saw a fireball making its way down the middle of the road on a level with my window, in a noticeably oblique direction, not horizontally. Eight or ten persons, continuing to call out 'Guarda, guarda!' kept pace with it, walking down the street, stepping out quickly. The meteor passed my

s on a clear night in winter, and as I myself have seen it at Innsbrück-that is to say, of a reddish yellow, with patches on it almost of red. The difference was t

ke next, by way of contrast, the case of one

ze of a cannon-ball, fell in a great hall at Feltri (Marche Trevisane) in which six h

nging and a large congregation had taken their seats. Nine persons were killed on the spot and eighty-two others were wounded. All the dogs that had got into th

preaching one Sunday, when in the middle of a storm a fireball fell into the church through the clock tower and exploded.

e the following narrative contributed to it by Mlle. d

treet. Suddenly there was a violent clap of thunder, and in front of the door there appeared a dazzlingly brilliant ball of fire, gradually descending towards where they were all grouped. After touching Mlle. K.'s head, who bowed down at once, the fireball fell on the ground in the middle of the party, made a circuit of it, then fo

near which Mlle. K. was seated had been thrown back into the court,

others were all lying in the vestibule in a dead faint. Mlle. K. was dead. The fireball had struck her on the nape of her neck and had proceeded down her back and left hip, leav

ictims bec

rolled into the middle of the kitchen, and passed near the feet of a young peasant who was standing in it. After which it went into an adjoining room, and disappeared without leaving any trace. The women tried to persuade the man to go in and see whether he co

the size of an egg, and it was seen burning upon a bed. Efforts were made in vain to extinguish it, and p

om at the time. It first played round a gas-jet, then, moving towards the table, it passed between two guests, went round a lamp hanging over the centre of the table, and then precipitated itself into the street, where it exploded wi

curious narrativ

storm in the entrance to a house in order

em-knocked senseless by lightning in the form of a fireball. One of the girls remained unconscious for a long time; all the others were more

ALLS OBSERVED IN PARIS ON JU

e Palais Royal electric-power station. This engraving, after a sketch made

ole body, and a fierce burning sensation in the hollow of her back. It was found afterwards that between the shoulder-blades and also on her leg, she had been badly scorched, but the wounds quickly healed. Now, in the room of this victim, no trace was to be found of the passin

ut of sight. In some cases, it seems to reduce itself

seem deadlier and more merc

e to be overlooked. After a tremendous thunderclap, a young man who was standing near the farm saw an immense fireball touch the ground at his feet, but it did him no damage, but

there were two cows and two oxen: the first cow, to the right of the entrance, was

n which there were four cows; the first and the third were killed, the seco

les of plates struck by lightning-holes being found in

y, though it does not help to clear up t

he houses close by and disappeared. One went down a chimney, crossed a room in which were a man and a child, without harming them, and went through the floor, perforating a brick with a clean round hole of about the size of a franc. Under this room there was a sheepfold. The shepherd's son, seated at the doorway,

l had also gone down a chimney, and had ex

ke refuge from the rain; moving away a few yards in order to get his whip, there was seen, when he returned, a ball of fire almost touching the ear of one of

eor is hardly more devasta

h a small thunderclap-a ball of fire, of the size of the opening of a sack of corn, fell slowly on one of the banks of t

ly on the other side

curious instance of a firebal

f sixteen or seventeen metres. It travelled against the wind, and came quite near the vessel from which it was

a toy balloon was seen to make its appearance suddenly in the Rue Veron at Montmartre. After moving along, just above the gro

house during a storm, when they suddenly saw a fireball travelling past them through the air for a distance of thirty yards or so. Then it exploded with a loud noise, striking sparks from the iro

a patient. On his return, on foot, the sky suddenly so darkened over, that he made for the nearest dwelling-place, avoiding, as he did so, th

ongratulating himself on the fact that his umbrella had acted as a sort of portable lightning conductor, for the steels were all twisted, and showed signs o

the door of a house, pushed it violentl

was at work near the window, received a small burn on her forehead, of about the size

up the chimney, from which it removed a

stance more c

, seated together in the ground-floor drawing-room of a countr

ebounded to the ceiling, then came down to her feet again, and so on two or three times, with mysterious regularity, the girl experiencing,

he could not walk without assistance, and it was two years before she got ov

be which we call the sun, and to which is due the flowering of the entire life of our planet. If we are still in doubt as to the nature of the sun's spo

ir escape from the clouds in times of st

seen actually to come into existence upon the surface of a ceil

blue in colour. It seemed to flare fiercely, but did not move apparently from the one spot, and after growing quickly in volume it suddenly disappeared. Simultaneously with its going, one of the observers felt

two pillars of the nave a bright red flame floating in the air about three feet above the floor. Presently it rose to a height of twelve or fifteen feet, increasing in volume. Then, after

he sewers of the town and to move along the surface of the road until it hit against this tower, of which a part subsided. No one was hurt. A nun affirmed that some yea

he ground, making a crackling sort of noise. One of them was seen by witnesses to come out of an excavation full o

he room, burnt the face and hands of a child, escaped partly through the window, partly through the door, broke into a thousand pieces a second brasier in another room, and disappeared finally up a chimney, carr

artment of the Moselle, standing in front of the entrance to his stables under the shelter of a porch during a storm, saw a fireball about the size of an orange moving in the direction of a dung-heap not far from him. But instead of going ri

e seen, are strangely character

ten, engaged in organizing a garde de surveillance, when he suddenly found himself surrounded by a bright and penetrating l

en he had gone about two hundred yards, he saw another brilliant light breaking out from the top of a

ree yards, and had then passed down outside to the soil, leaving trace of a semi-circular route; and finally, after rising again on the opposite side of the tree to a height of four yards, tearing

and. They may be seen passing sometimes from one clo

oud at the zenith-the sky being very much lowering at the time-and go towards another. It wa

saw it disappear into the second cloud. There was an explosion follo

emained only two clouds in the sky, just above the horizon. Balls of fire were

ve upon a storm. It is fascinating thus to watch the grandiose spectacle of the elements

in the afternoon. A traveller was making his way down tow

below, about the middle of the mountain, a vas

, some zigzag, some taking the shape of fireballs. When the two men came near this regi

d downwards. Now they were in the midst of the fireballs flying in every directi

rrifying, but suddenly now, one of these fireballs, about two feet in diameter, burst open near the traveller and emitted streams of a bright and beautiful light in every direction, and there was a dull report fol

en, enveloping them in a bluish light, without hurting them or even damaging their clothes, but giving

aw in the air and between his friends, a ball of fire of about the size of a full moon. At the same time there was a terrible clap of thunder. Two of the spectators were slightly wounded; one felt a sharp pain on the left side of the face, the other, a sensation in one arm with a feeling as

room in the chateau of the Baron de France at Maintenay (Pas-de

fant's head, which quietly crossed the room, touching four people on its way. None of them were injured. An awful expl

not far from Newcastle-on-Tyne. Eight people were having tea in the

onorous voice of Jupiter the thunderer. It remained discreetly at the entrance of the room, no doubt waiting for the sign to advanc

magnificent-but, we must ac

nd the ward of a hospital full of nurses and children. This time again the lightning

rintending the family meal, when, after a terrible clap of thunder, she saw a fireball the size of a fist come down the chimney, pass between

d opened it, when the fireball at once followed her, played about her feet, went into t

te, and reaching the edge of the roof, burst with such a terrific noise that th

to the window, when her young brother saw a fireball enter by the window-sill and descend on to his sister's back, giving her a sudden shock all over her body. The young girl then saw at her feet a quantity of

htning conductors; but instead of quietly impaling itself like the linear lightning, and breathing i

ls playing about the lightning

ctor on the Observatory of Padua. The conductor, which consisted of an iron cha

use of M. Haller at Villiers la Garenne. This conductor was much injured by the audacious assa

ecent creation. Nor would it be surprising if there were de

itself, flung itself on a lightning conductor placed in the centre of the chateau. It was spared, but the chateau suffered greatly. The electric ball descended from both sides of the metal

a certain measure to escape the

director of the Observatory of Blue Hill (U.S.), happening to be in Paris, ma

ing, slowly descended from the summit to the second platform. It appeared to be about one yard in diameter, and to be situated in the middle of the tower, taking less than two seconds to co

ginable? Would not the enormous masses of iron used in its construction neutralize the attraction of the thin metallic rods, effectual for th

tning has struck bells or telegraph wir

a bird on a telegraph wire near a railway

AS A COLOSSAL LIG

by M. G. Loppé. Published in the Bulletin de

nor to metals, but it prefers its independence, and

hist-it acknow

rly capricious, it is because we are still ignorant of the laws

ns question science without ceasing; we try to reproduce fireballs artificially,

M. Stéphane Leduc recorded an interesting ex

ly on the sensitive face of a gelatine bromide of silver photographic plate, which is placed on a metallic leaf, the two points being 5 to 10 c

in to move forward slowly on the plate, make a few curves, and then set off for the positive point; when it reaches this, the

er a distance of 5 to 6 centimetres. Sometimes, before reaching the positive point, the globe bursts i

the routes resulting from the division, the effluvium round the positive point. Also, if you stop the experimen

to throw powder on the plate-sulphur, for example-the course it followed wi

nomena, this is the most anal

POSITIVE POLE OF

NEGATIVE POLE OF

en ball lightning loses part of its fluidity and beco

fire of a forge; some of the longer ones were bent and their sections welded together. The lightning entered by the door of a stable in the form of a fireball, and came near a person who was preparing to milk a cow; then it passe

hbouring house. "Some of these fragments, of the size of nuts," wrote the Minister of Post and Telegraphs at the Academy, "are of a not very thick material,

ceded by the ordinary muttering, they burst quickly like the discharge of musketry, and succe

ell us the stories of what they pretend to have seen of the fall of aerol

anoliths, but they prove none the less that ponde

two more

enly, in the Rue Pierre Corneille, several small balls, about the size of a common pea, were seen to fall; these burned on touching the ground, sending out a little

the Institute, saw a very brilliant voluminous body, yellowish-white, and rather long in shape, b

eft a trail of light behind it, at the edges of which could be seen sparks, or rather red globules, because their light did not flash. Near the falling substance the luminous trail was almost vertical, while in the further part it was sinuous. The

ter in clouds, which is not violently projected by an explosi

of ball lightning. Instead of denying it, men of science ought to study it, because it

s, which are extraordinary enough to captiv