Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1894-06-16
CONTINUOUS LIGHTNING.
The Phenomenon Of blazing skies Sees,
Yearly In san Domingo.

The Phenomenon Of blazing skies Sees,
Yearly In san Domingo.
The phenomenon known as light
ming, followed bv rolling, reverber.
ating report, recognized as thunder,
Is common to wide zone Of the
earth, but IL 10 not generally known
that there are localities where the
vivid flashes and the deafening peals
are incessant The most notable Of
these continuous lightning districts
Is on the eastern coast Of the Island
of San Domingo, leading member
CT the group of the West Ind ies, 1t
is not meant that the lightning Is
here continuous the year round, but
that, with the commend ement Of the
rainy season, comes this zig Tag feat
ure of electric illumination, which Is
then continuous day and night for
weeks. The storm center, says the,
Pittsburgh Dispatch, Is not continue
ously local, but shifts over cOnsid-
cradle area, and, as thunder IL sell
dom heard over greater distance
than eight miles, and the lightning
In the night will illuminate SO as to
Oe seen thirty miles, there may be
days In some localities where the
twinkle on the sky Is q continuous
succession while the rolling reports
are absent Then, again, comes days
and nights when the electric artillery
Is piercing In its detOnat ons: and
especially Is this the case when two
separate local cloud centers join, as It.
we're, In an electric duel, and, as
sometimes occurs, q third participant
appears 10 add to the elemental war
fare. Then there Is blazing sky
with binding vividness and stun
ninH peals that seem to pin the lis
tener to the earth. Long before the
echoes can die away come others, un.
I'll the auricular mechanism seems
hammered into chaos
Just how and why II Is that there
Is here generated 50 immense an
amount OF electricity as to keep up
such an inccssant ignition IL one Of
those problems that can only be
solved when sufficient data are at
hand to work upon. 1t Is probable
that with the commencement OF the
rainy season, this region Is the border
Of opposing air and ocean currents,
whose friction has something to do
In the case. This would tend to
bring into contact opposing clouds
variously charged, and as lightning
is the passing Of electric ty from one
cloud to another, seeking equilibrium,
or the passing OF the fluids from one
cloud to the earth, 1t Is probable that
In this continued friction o! currents,
may DC found q starting point to un-
ravcl the mystery. II Is In swirling
and opposing cloud strata, especially
where these yet into gyratory
motion, that electrical phenomena
are most abundant Just as. In an,
even, uniform TOW Of clouds, such,
disturbance Is rarcr and often en-.
tircly absent 1t would not seem
from the meager information bearing
on this matter, that the electrical in
terchange Is between the clouds aud
the earth, rs there Is no reference.
made to what are termed lightning
strokes--when the descending cur.
rent strikes u tree, building OF other
object, or strikes the ground directly.
Buv II would certainly lie q trying
ordeal on any fairly balanced nervous
organization to tehOld o blazing sky
for days and ghts together and lis.
ten t. the lncessant rolling OF the
thunder until the very senses seemed
stupehed to further recognition.
Happily such localities have been
rarely bestowed by nature, and this
one Is Stunned by the dusky M.
tives, and the more advanced
fauna, when the wet season ap-
proaches, leave II bv instinct