Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-08-13

strel hopes finally to rest.-New York
Herald.
THUNDERsTORMs AND MILK.
Scientific Discussion of an interest
ing Fact.
During serious electrical disturbances
in the atmosphere it Is we'll known that
beer may become hard" milk may go
sour and meat may frequently turn"
Considerable speculation has arisen as
to the cause of this change. 1t has
been suggested that an ozonized state
Of the air due to electric discharge has
something to do with 1t, or that the for
nation Of nitrous acid in the air is re-
sponsible for the change. It Is how
ever not probable that the atmosphere
undergoes any chemical change suffl-
cient to account for the extent to which
certain foods turn" Moreover, any
important quantity Of ozone or nitrous
acid would be calculated to exert pre-
servative effect, as both are powerful
antiseptics.
It may be urged again. that the phe-
nomenon Is due to oxidation by means
of ozone, but this can hardly be the
case, in view of the large quantities Of
beer and milk that are soured in rela-
tion to the very small quantity Of ozone
which a thunderstorm produces. In the
case of meat, at any rate, the turning"
can scarcely be attributed to the action
Of ozone or Of oxygen. The change is
probably due, not directly to chemical
agencies, but purely to a disturbance
of the electric equilibrium.
It Is we'll known than an opposite
electrical state is set up by induction,
so that an electrical condition Of the
atmosphere induces similar condition,
though opposite in character, in the OBJ
jects on the earth. Persons near whom
a flash of lightning passes, frequently
experience a severe shock by induction,
though no lightning touches them, and
in the celebrated experiment Of Gal
vani he showed that skinned frog In
the neighborhood of an electrical ma
chine, although dead, exhibited COL
vulsive movements every time that a
spark was drawn from the conductor
In the case Of milk turning" or Of
beer hardening" or Of meat becoming
tainted, it is probably, therefore, an in
stance of chemical convulsion or, 1t
may be, of stimulus given to bacte-
biological agencies set up by an oppo-
site electric condition induced by the
disturbed electrical state Of the atrnos-
phere. Although these changes are
most marked during thunderstorm.
yet undoubtedly they occur at other
times, though not to the same degree,
when there is no apparent electric dis
turbance.
But even when the sky is clear the
atmosphere may exhibit considerable
electric tension. The electroscope con-
stantly shows that conducting point
elevated in the air is taking up posi-
tive charge "a sa rule) Of electricity,
the tension rising with the height Of
the point. This effect increases toward
daybreak until 1t reaches a maximum
some hours after sunrise. It then d.
minishes until 1t is weakest, a few
hours before sunset, when again 1t rises
and attains a second maximum some
hours after sunset, the second mini
mum occurring before daybreak. There
are, accordingly, constant changes Of
electrical tension going on, changes,
however, which are more rapid and
much more marked during thunder
storm and which are quite powerful
enough to exert an evil influence on
certain articles of food or drink suscep-
tible to change, notably meat, milk and
beer or cider.
There Is no doubt that the unfavor-
able effects on the feeling or well-being
experienced by many individuals, such
as headache and oppression and nerv-
GUS distress, on the advent Of q thun-
derstorm, have a similar foundation
and are due to the same electrical diff
ferences of potential, the effect passing
away as the disturbed condition Of the
atmosphere or the storm, subsidies.