The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-08-07
From. the New Fork Herald i.
Esee6RSc lEefeoroIory. !

AaeEBF1S AAete0E,0ko&y. fsast.f
With the spread of thesnetwofk ofsotir
nneteorologi stations 90 the West Indies
We shall obtain dr1ner basis of calculation
OF the phenomena-cy clones, squalls, siard
water.spo make navigation Ia
those. waters 80 perilous at certain seasons
OF the year. The addition OF an accurate
notMton Of the electric condition, currents,
and disturbances all over the territory under
the charge OF the W eather Bureau at Wash
ington will prove also, we belleve, of i'm.
mense service, for it cannot fail to increase
the accuracy Of the weather reports, already
Of such value. The idea is admin5ly con-
eeiyed and is fully justified by the present
condition Of electrical science. .RThe
attempt. to. utilize electrical. preEsoni-
tons Is said TO date fr back in
history, when the old Roman 4 castles
on the Adriattc were equipped with
irou-pointed bastions, to which the
guards on duty presented their iron hal
herds, and when they perceived the spark
gave warning to the farmer and fisherman Of
an approaching storm. But the elaborate
searches In the field of atmospheric electri-
city within the last.few years amply sustain
the old popular notion that this mysterious
agent Is one Of the almost inyariable pre-
cursors Of severe tempests, and In form
that Is Enthusiastically eautionary. In his
very recently published work, bearing di.
rectly upon such practical use Of the electro
meter as weather.glass hardly less valued
than the other instruments Of the meteorol.
.ogist Sir " llian Thomson, sofs Glasgow;
has shown that certain conditions Of weather
He beautifully indicated by the strength and
character Of the electric currents in the air,
and be has also strikingly confirmed the
views of Beccaria, a famed Italian philoso- \
'pher of the last century. Lecturing in'the
Royal Institution during @rain-storm,
Thomson quoted the old scientists' obsegya-
tons and tested their correctness by bis
own instruments, which, it was afterwards
found. bad enabled. him TO make a;hrilliant
!prognostication of clear. weather, verified, as
1t was, before the lecture was over. I'D .,,1
It is, unfortunately, too true that the
electric ocean which enyelops the earth is
less known and studied than the marine
fauna and hora Of the deepest valleys Of the
Atlantic bottom; but enoughis already dis
covered In the, former domain to warrant .
hopeful and extensive system Of continuous
research. Investigation concIusiYely shows
that In serene weather the earth's surface
!(including in that term the surfaces Of the
sea, Of the vegetation, the buildings, and in
habitants) is, as rule, everywhere mega
lively or resinously~ electrified, while all
meteoric bodies. flying, birds, clouds; fogs,
&C., not in contact with its crust, but float
ing through its atmosphere, are oppositely
affected with positive electricity. This
Well-known fact affords the basis for
such research as we speak Of, since the cleo
tri6cation Of any station must remain per-
manently the same in degree and kind until
it is disturbed by the passage or approach of
electrifed.air or storm-clouds. An observer
noticing a varying and unusual proportion OF
the electricity ut any station furnished with
an electrometer would, therefore, have time
ly intimation of advancing clouds and other
atmospheric connections which would be Of
great value for the purposes of weather tele-
graphy. That such deductions would not
be useless is proved by experiments and
prognostics already made by eminent scien-
tific observers. The celebrated Saussure and
his fellow-trayeller on Mont Blanc once OF.
served spontaneous flashes from their bodies,
and even sparks were emitted FROM their me-
tallic buttons, just as they noticed in the dis
lance dark thunder-cloud nearing their lofty
viewpoint. Similar electric premonitions of
approaching tempests have been recorded by
Humboldt, Arago, and all mountain explor-
ers. For several days preceding the terrible
English storm of October 90, 1859, Admiral
Fitzroy recorded extraordinary disturbances
of the electric currents in the telegraph
wires above ground, and Mr.. Marley, the
electrician of the Atlantic telegraph, noted
very strong reflections in the submarine
cable-currents. So marked and so many are
the electrical indications previous to the
East Indian typhoons chat Mr.. Piddingtop,
the Calcutta meteorologist, with many
others, held that the origin of these meteors
was exclusively electrical. And the great
Glasgow physicist alluded to in the outset OF
this article, in his electric observatory on
the island Of ArTan, has noticed that when
he could not perceive an.east wind which his
electrometer had warned him to predict, he
Immediately found by waves coming in
shore that the wind must be actually blow
ing q short distance out at sea. . ':@ ns
1t is evident, therefore, that the endeaVor
Ia not premature to employ the electrometer
and eectroscope in the network of signal sta
tions, and thus to put electricity (that great
magician of the atmospheric under rigid
surveillance. The knowledge Of natural
laws thus acquired will also be alike doubly
valuable to the mariner (by enabling him to
anticipate and avoid the stealthy cyclone,
squall, or water.spoutl, and to the intelligent
physician in practically applying the princi-
pies of medical meteorology. e..
KING SOLOMON AND TIE BLACKsMITH-MA-
SONIC ILLUSTRATION OF AN ANCIENT LEGEND
mi T,c, 20 M A