St. Landry democrat., 1883-08-25

or whatever it was, had scared the
| ground. The rain was now coming
down in torreEts, and the horses feet
were splashingN as they trotted along in
/ the Indian tran they followed. The
darkness was soon dissipated, and in
few minutes we could begin to distin-
/ guish the outline of the thickets and
timber that skirted the prairie, and by
the time we reached the Lighthouse from
whence started, the storm, with the
exception of the lighter rain, some few
flashes of distant and .fast-receding
i lightning, with an occasional clap of
/ thunder, was nearly over.
''How was the sick woman when
. you got there9' asked one of the list
| eners.
g She was found by the doctor sitting
1 up all right. and smoking her pipe,'' "a
common practice in those days. was the
answer.
"Then you had your ride for moth
ing?" said another.
"To have been out in such storm,
and see one of those circles made, was
worth half lifetime"
Did you go to the place the next
day?'
Yes, and we found that the ground
was scared into the distance of several
inches All the grass was burned off in
a ring 9 bout fifteen Or eighteen inches
wide, and about twelve or fifteen inches
across. On the inside, where the grass
was not burned at all. the rain stopped
! the fire from spreading. The doctor,
long since dead, frequently spoke of his
night on the prairie, when he saw the
| prairie circle made. He has a nephew,
now living at Portage, who has often.
| heard him relate his account of the in
| cident above described. He had his
own theory about it, and what caused
| it, but which seemed ineaplicable to any
| but himself
"Did you ever fad anything in any
book about uchlpccurrences?'' was
asked. 81
books I could tintahat treated on cleo
tricity, lightning ,,etc., at last discov-
cred the following explanation of the
phenomena in 1.-The Botanic Garden,
poem in two parts, containing the Econ
omy of Vegetation. and the Lives OF
Plants by Erasmus Darwin, M. D.,
London, 1925. 1t is headed, Fairy
Rings
..There is phenomenoss supposed to
be electric, which is yet hnaccounted
for; mean the fairy rings: as they are
called, so often seen on ting grass. The
numerous flashes Of lightning which oc-
cur every summer ARE, believe, gener-
ally discharged on Che earth, and seldom
(if every from one cloud to another.
Moist trees are the most Frequent con-
ductors of the flashes of lhthtning, and
| am informed by purcIt }ers of the
wood that innumerable Il rs are thus
cracked and injured. Another times
larger parts of prominences of clouds
gradually sinking as they move along
are discharged on mn mi moister parts of
grassy plains. No, ibis knob or corner
OF cloud in befk attracted by the
earth will become nearly cylindrical as
loose wool would do when drawn out
into thread. and will strike the earth
with a stream of electricity, perhaps
two or ten yards in diameter. Now, as
a stream of electricity displaces the air
it passes through, it is plain no part of
the grass can be burnt by it. but just
the external ring of this cylinder, where
the grass can have access to the air,
since without air nothing can be cal
cined. This earth, after having been
SO calcined, becomes a richer soil, and
either fungi or a blqer grass for many
years marks the place.
"That lightning dGisplaces the air in
its passage is eyine,r ,.by the loud crack
that succeeds it, Which is owing to the
sides of the aerial Vacuum clapping to-
'gether when the lightning is with
drawn. That nothing will calcine With
out air is now well understood from the
acids produced in !. the burning of
phlogistic substances, and may be
agreeably seen by stlspending paper
on an iron prong and putting it into the
center of the blaze Of an iron furnace;
it may be held theressom seconds, and
may be again withdrawn without its
being burned, il it be passed into the
flame quickly, and out again through
the external part 6 it,Awhichsds in con.
tact with air. / know some circles OF
many yards diameter Of this kind near
Foremart, in Derbyshire, WHICH annual
" produce large white = lfngi and
stronger grass, and have d6sSe 80 above
thirty years. This Increased fertility
Of the ground by calcinatioh or char
ring, and its continuing to operate so
many years, is well worth the attention
Of the farmer and shows. the use of par
ing and burning new turf in agricult-
ure, which produces its effects, not so
much by the ashes of the vegetable
fibers, as by charring the soil that adj
heres to them.
These situations, whether from EN-
inence or from moisture, which were
proper once to attract and discharge al
thunder cloud are more liable again to
experience the same. Hence many
fairy rings are often seen near each
other, either without intersecting each