The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-08-16

aens-ESuasersai Hssss. rhssdsr
storms ana Polar Lighss.
MeteorologcaIly speaking tho last fortnight
Gin these parts has bean distinguishsd
beyond anything NO have known before In
August by the most extraordinary combins-
tons of equatorial heasN thunder storms and
Polar LightA Usually with us heated tsm
of two or three days brings on . rvond Of rat
Ting thunder showers. which refresh the
earth and cool and purify the air. Usually
whom we have Q visitation a the Northern
Lights tho night IL chilly with the current Of
cold air brought down from tho ioebcrgs
beyond tho Arctic Circle. But this sssson.
with the intensest summer heats, We have had
succession all round tie country az rattling
thunder storms and no abatement OF the heat
whatever, and three OF four exhibitions Of the
Northern Lights. with the thermomctes bard
upon the nineties. On "Wednesday night last
while lightnings and thundsn were inccs-
sanity playing among tho heavy clouds around
the horizon from midnight till daybreAk. the
Northern Lights wore streaming up from
behind tho dark mountains Of clouds which
hung upon the Hudson Highlands with won
derful brilliancy. There was thus blending
Of the electricity from tho icebergs Of the
frozen North and of the electricity evolved
from our burning summer skies. for which
the records can hardly produce parallel
The accomplishments or overtures 10 these
remarkable phenomena. in different places. have
been the heaviest summer rains and hail storm
of the season. Thus, on Tuesday night last.
at Poughkeepsie and up and down the Hudson
from that point there was q most terrific
thunder storm. The lightning WINS Of the most
fearful nature and appalled, the stoutest
hearts as it flashed athwart tho sky in forked
tongues and jagged chains and these fearful
Nominations were each followed by rnttling
and stunning volleys of thunder. On the same
evening there was tremendous thunder storm
at Owego and along the Susquehanna in that
quarter, and terrible thunder shower passed
over large part of Connecticut and others in
Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. On
Thursday night they had q similar visitation
in Washington, and on the night preceding
very destructive downpouring at Louisville
and thereabouts in Kentucky. Houses were
blown down in Louisville. aud the whole sur
rounding country was flooded, and crops
fences and outhouses were washed away. On
Wednesday afternoon, while violent thunder
storm was raging in Amesbury, Mass, the
poet Whittier was prostrated in his house
Though, we are glad to say, he was not
injured) by a lightning bolt which struck the
building and four other buildings in the
little town were struck during tho storm, but
without material injury in any case. In short,
since Sunday last there has been, East,
West and South, succession of these summer
thunder storms, as remarkable for their num-
Der as for their violence and yet, since Sun
day last, from day to day, in this city and its
surroundings the busy portion Of the day has
opened with the mercury among the eighties,
to be carried in the afternoon high up among
the nineties.
Usually, we say, such succession Of fierce
thunder storms, over such an extensive area as
that covered by the storms of the present
week, brings on immediately refreshing cool
ness and purity in the general atmosphere.
But down into the afternoon of yesterday there
was no relieving mitigation Of our August
cheated term" heated to the sweltering tenn
perature of the delta of the Ganges, or of
those awful Equatorial African swamps crossed
by Stanley in his search for Dr. Livingstone
And, without dwelling here upon what fol-
lowed this sweltering heat of yesterday, we
return to the question, why the continuance
for so many days of these fearful tropical
heats Notwithstanding all these heavy thun-
der storms? This Is an interesting question,
and one to which we would call the special
attention of our Signal Service Bureau, which
has proved so signally serviceable to the
country as to command the universal approval
of the public
If Professor Plantamour's comet with q
fiery tail stretching over half the semicircle
of the armament were within or near the orbit
of our little planet we might settle this ques-
ton at once; but as no comet is just now with
in the range Of our longest telescopes the comet
explanation must be dismissed. The trouble,
as defined by the Italian astronomer Secchi,
must be in the sun. He appears to be fred
up with an immense outflow of incandescent
magnesium to degree of heat that is posi-
lively startling But whatever the causes Of
the extraordinary phenomena in question we
can only hope that the consequences will not
involve the destruction Of our helpless little
planet until we shall have had q judgment
from the people of the United States as to
which is the better man-Grant or Greeley.
The YELLOW FEVER FLEET gained another
unwelcome addition yesterday in the ar
rival of en- infected brig. There are now
in the Bay four vessels having the
horrible disease on board. The Spanish