Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-04-23
NO MORE ROMANCE.
Explauatian OF Thunde, b oits and ths An.
rora Borealis

Explsuatia OF Thunde, olts and ths Au'
rora Boreslis
In the course OF @ lecture on electricity,
recently delivered In London, DR.. Marcel
spoke especially OF "thurderbolts,"
Most of them are mete oTites; one is only
8 piece of sandstone broken of by
the fash, third, carefully pre-
served in museam, IL . cannon
bsll, "found st the bottom OF q hole in c
manure hesp : fer fash Of lightning had
struck it," Iron pyrites, q peculiarly
shaped piece of coal, and the clirker from
s Kllrurn fire engine have all 6gured
in this capacity, and, from being
so carefully preserved by their
owners sre evidently cherished IS
specimens quite as remarkable as they
would be were their history less apocry-
phsl. Fulgerites or vitrihed tubes, foIm-
I'd ey the fuaing OF sand where current
Of electricity in the shape OF light
mig fssn has penetrated the
ground, are slso in the exhibition.
But even they afford little room fer
mystery. TIE 6re-ball is OILY fash in
smother form. So is sheet-l lightning,
while the remarkable tales OF escapes
from death by atmospheric electricity
prove simply how narrow is the current
and now rapid is It's seton. Tne GLADE
OF saw has been destroyed and
the handle burnt, while The
sawyer remained unitjured. lady hsd
the bracelet struck c f her hsnd, while
she herself felt no more than shock;
smother had her bonnet entirely burnt on
account Of the wire its frame was inside
OF, while she herself WAS untouched
Even objects entirely insulated from
the ground are not safe, for two
sea gals hyiIg over William were
killed By lightning. All these difficulties
have 10 be considered in erecting light
Ding rods, some Of which are little better
than traps to catch the electric fluid, when
the householder permits SO important
8 means of protection to fall into
the hands OF an ignorant
ated with thunder. Yet DR.. Marcel
teaches the contrary, and, though se is
not certain, in spite Of Colladon's exper-
iments, that all the phenomena attending
waterspout can be explained by cleo
tricity, NJ. Peltier affilms these sudden
fittings up of water to be the result OF
an 6lGCLIlCdl dLtIaCtPOuJ IasASl tnan suO
action of the wind.
But whenever conflict Of opinion may
be permissible on this point, it is clear
that none is allowable in regard to the
aurora boreslis australis. Science has
deprived us of all the pleasant conceits
anent the Emery dancers" or
the scarcely p less pagan beliefs
about the spirits fighting in the air; or
even of the winter sun being reflected
from some vast glaciers ct the back of
the north wind. The surora is due to the
positive electricity from the sea between
the tropics bsing carried into the
upper atmospheric regions and
thence waited to the poles by the higher
currents of air. Here, Dr.. Msreet as
sures us, it descends toward the earth,
and meets the terrestrial negative elect
richly in 8 rarefied atmosphere. "Lu-
minous discharges now take place,
their brightness being increased By the
presence of masses of foreign particles in
the air." Aud thus the electrician de-
prives Us of the last fragrance on the ro-
nance, which cluDg to the most pic
turesque of northern atmospheric phe-
nomena.