The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1889-10-24
1.-THE GENIE ELECTRON."
An Element That Plays a Part in
Most Natural Phenomena.

Most Natural Phenomena.
Madison Buell., the repeater chief of
the Western Union Telegraph company,
recently read a paper before the Flee
trical society of Buffalo on the spirit of
electricity, or, as he calls it, 1.-The &C.
ME Electron." The genie performs an
important part in almost all the opera
tons of nature, but generally in so
quiet manner that his presence is
never known or even suspected except
IN the occurrence of something calcu-
lated to arouse him to anger or oppo-
sition. at is, said Mr.. Buell., IN the
bright clouds, far above the earth, that
he sometimes likes to nestle, or when
their bases touch the mountains and
their white tops shine in the far-off
ether he will stretch forth his powerful
form and seem to battle himself in the
! tenderest purple of distance. At other
times he will softly breathe h spirit in
the air, sigh, and send his moan along
the woods and moorish fens, and up
among the loose, disjointed cliffs as the
sad notes of the coming storm. When
the blackwinged legions of tempest
arise he delights in leapng from cloud
to cloud, and the tremendous roar of
his voice is rolled back from the noun
tain's bosom as the recognition of the
dazzling brightness Of his flushing eye.
Calm and serene he drives the furious blast,
And, pleased tn Almighty order to perform,
Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm.
The exhibition OF h : fearful strength
at such times makes towards of US all.
Fear, full of feeble fancics, makes US
weak and unmanly, looscns in US every
power, and allows our mag nation to
create fantastic shapes of the hideous
ruin he may create. The immensely of
his force naturally inspires mankind
with terror and awe, and until recent
ly, they have looked upon him more in
the light of Gods minister of punish
ment and destruction than as the
friendly and beneficient. though pow
erful, being they are discovering him
to be. His favorite place of retirement
is in the deep interior Of the earth, and
while thus pent up, and finding no
ready means of escape, he will some
times break the bonds of his PRISON,
and in doing so shake the earth for
miles around, leaving great rents in it,
overturning buildings, destroying life
and property, as was SO forcibIy dem
onstrated in the late earthquakes at
Charleston and vicinty.'
After referring in detail to some OF
the famous earthquakes of modern
times, Mr. Buell. asked whether 1t is
not possible that the cause of these
disturbances is due to the chemical
action of which "Electron is supposed
to be the immediate agent When
the particles of different kinds of mat
ter are free to mingle with each other.
which by means of heat, air, water, and
other media they can be made to do,
'Electron' can make them change Their
arrangements and can subject them to
| such magical transformations that they
become entirely new substances, with
qualities essentially different from their
previous condition. The presence of
subterranean waters is able to bring
about greater and more prompt accu-
mutation of electricity in the parts of
the ground that are near to them, the
metallic veins or conducting rocks that
penetrate to great depths and extend
to great distances are apt to convey,
according to their direction, any quaint
ity of 'Electron's spirit. Might not
the subterranean noises, very similar
to rolling thunder, which generally
precede and frequently accompany
violent earthquakes be caused by the
explosion of this accumulated electric
ity, and which we might term subtcr-
ranean lightning? If we obtain such
enormous quantities of his spirit on n
small scale, as we do from our voltaic
cells and from our dynamo machinery.
| is there any reason to doubt that in the
interior of our globe, where all the
operations of nature are carried on
upon scale of magnitude almost hc-
| yOnd our conception, when a discharge
of this nature docs occur. that it can
be of sufficient force to produce I'M
dulatory waves and TO lift the crust of
the earth at such points as the force
may happen to be the GREATEST"