The morning news., 1889-05-06
THE THEoPY 0F LIGHTNING.
Little Progress Made in the Investiga-
tiOnS.
From the Washington Post

to completely change-that is, for winter to
become summer and summer winterp
asked reporter of Prof Cleveland Abbe
last night, the question being suggested by
the blizzard of Saturday, as compared with
the almost summer-like mllduess of last
December
at is" the professor replied. "In the
course of every 10000 years there occurs
what is called the professional period, when
the earth passes through a complete circle
of changes, aud summer becomes winter
and vice versa, as you have said. j"
''Was the blizzard of yesterday extraor-
dinary as occu ring in the month of
April"
''No. 1t was nothing more than what we
have had before in April-a whirling wind
and snow passing up mort ward from thu
coast of Virginia and North Carolina 1t
matters not whether we have an inch or a
foot of snow, the character of storm is
the same so far as meteorology is concerned
On April II, 1887, there was a storm center
very much like this on our Atlantic coast,
just If N rfolk. The temperature here
was 40 deg, with q northeast wind. The
snow did not come as fur as Washington,
but remained just north of us all the time,
and the were cautionary signals all along
tGe coast and on the lake. After the storm
cleared away the northeast wind condlued
in Washingtoa, /, just as it has to-day"
"You saw the lightning fash through the
snow-ciouds, professor. Was that a phe-
none al occurrence, or are there any iheo-
rieS respecting it9
'It was not phenomenal; but why 10 oc-
Cured cannot say. There is no theory or
expla nation sufficiently acceptable to
meteorologists as TO waere the electricity
comes from that makes the ligatni G. just
as in summe Ii yhtning Only occu S when
we have an intense railfall, so in winter il
only comes on when we have an intense
snowfall. Lightni lg has something to do
with the rapid ascent of % moisture that
forms the cloud, and with the rap d descent
that forms rain and snow. That gensrali-
zation will hold good, and we may be able
some d " to get at the exact mechanism"
when will that time come, professor"
Probably few years fro N now. AT
present we can only forecast the conditions
likely to lead to thunderstor but we can
not tell where they will occur.
''Ole of the things that throws light on
the formati n of lightni & in our thunder
storms Is the formation of volcanoes" said
the professor, as he reached for book and
opened it at the frontisDiece, a picture Of
Vesuvius in eruption.
~ wish you could reproduce that pic
ture, said he, enthu siasticaliy, and tnen CON
tinued:
"In the eruption of Vesuvius we have an
immense mass of steam which shoots up
about two miles above the mountain
crest, then spreads horiz 0ntaily and forms
a cloud, from which a mu idy rain per-
petually descends. Lightning shoot out on
all sides, accompanied, of course, by thuu-
der. These lightnings come from the C n
ter of the asce ding column of steam, but
do not occur until the great cloud above
hoe frI hat IN4h
the ascent of the electrified vapor and the
descent of the rain seem to be neces sary to
make the lightning. Our thunderstorm
clouds form very much in the same way. A
mass of air ascends over one part of the
earth and, before it has Travelled many
miles, forms a cloud, which, TO those be-
meath it, grows into a thunderstorm, and
lightning comes when the heaviest rain de-
scends."
Have the scientific methods of observing
lightning progressedP
Z" he scientific methods of observing at
mospheric electricity, ncluiing lightning,
had been in very unsatisfactory condi-
tio1 for many years, bu1 about 1881 Gan.
Hfsen, who was then chief of the signal
office. encouraged d an effort to mo thor-
Oughly investigate the su iect. He inter
ested the best experts of the country in the
matter, and general report up IN the re-
pared by Prof. T. c. Mendenhall. The
principal diffic llty has been to allow for the
great local dis urba ces surrounding every
building an hilltop, or other place of OBJ
servat on. 1t woul seem as though, if we
could allow for this, we mig 1t obtain from
the observations IS some indication of the
general electrical condition of the atcos-
pk ere, but thus far the results have been
very unsatisfacto y. 1t is understood that
Prof Me de aall may be oblge1 to report
that the results to be obtained from such
o. servations by way of practical imnrove-
ment i'll weat er predictions will hardly
warrant the signal Office in spending any
more money o this subject. The result is
very much to be deplOred for it is practl-
caily a confession that We have no prospect Of
accurately predicting local thu lder storms
tornadoeS. On the other hand, the
Importance of the matter seems Co me to
warrant the governme t in maintaining
further observations, perhaps, of greatly
modified character, but still calculated to, in
some way, elucidate the subj9c 1t is on this
principle that all civilized nations have for
toe past fifteen years been maintaining con-
ti1uous records of the phenomena of ter
restrial magnetism, in order that we may
understa I'd the laws controlling the devia-
tions of the magne ic compass. We are
still far from having solved this problem,
but it is In every way worthy Of the expsn-
diture AT has been made, and the same
may be said in favor of observing atmos-
pheric electricity"
I'VE have no astronomical theories about
the transpostion Of the seasons" said
P. of. Asaph Hall, to the reporter, Except
it be the sup-spot theory. Any change in
the seasons is almost imperceptih e, and the
movene Il you suggest could only occur il
epocas thous lnds or years apart"
"The changes in the seasons have been
greatly exaggerated" said Prof. Lester
Ward, the well-known botanist, when the
matter was mentioned by reporter.
Last winter was ulsual, but the spring is
only little ahead Of the average, if any
thing. The astronomers say we are ia
great astronomical cycle, which places us
now really in our astronomical summer,
but that the time will Jme wnen it will be
astronomical winter-that is, the sun is now
nearest the earth in the winter and farthest
from it il the summer These cDnd itions,
they say, will be eventually reversed
acc 1unt Of the revolution of the earth's
APPS des. But, then, th 1t will be in a vast
PEI iod of time Ever since human history
began we have been in the astronomical
summer"
"What are the earliest seasons you re-
membe Prof. W1rlP' asked the reporter.
"In my experience che earliest we ever
had was 1878, and the next earle was
1880. The terna Q yeas, 1879 and 1881,
were very late springs. 1t is certain nat
during the Christmas 10 idays. or about
Jan. |, last, sever sp ing Il overs bloomed,
including the hepatica and toe robins
plautaiD. / found both Of these about Feb.