Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 7.djvu/357

Rh more easterly current of air may have come over the shoulder of the mountain on the opposite bank of the Connecticut River, or it may have come down the valley of that river, and met the current coming down the West River in the village of Brattleboro.

With respect to the direction in which the lightning struck whether up or down, it is not improbable that in every stroke of electricity there are two opposing currents, one up and the other down. The splinters which adhere to the first tree struck show this, some remaining attached by the upper end, and others by the lower.

Beginning in the north, the first in order of the objects struck were a house and a tapering fir-tree near by, within about ten or fifteen feet, and towering considerably above the house. The house had no conductor. A hundred paces from there, in a southeasterly direction, a locust-tree was struck. It stood in a grove of locust, maple, poplar, butternut, fir, and other trees, within about thirty paces from a conductor upon a neighboring house, and not far from a tall Lombardy poplar. A hundred paces farther on, and at a lower level, one of the higher branches of a lofty elm was struck. At the distance of another hundred yards, in the same general direction, stands the Congregational church, and near it the Baptist church, both about 130 feet in height, and with conductors apparently in good condition. These churches were unharmed. About 400 paces from there, and at a still lower level, stands the fourth point struck, which is a three-story grist-mill; and, finally, some 300 yards or more farther on, and more to the westward, on a comparatively high point of land stands the dwelling-house, the fifth and last point known to have been struck—the last, we mean, in following the direction, and not in the order of time. The effect of the strokes at the two extreme points was severer than any of the others.

Reports from other quarters of the country show that the electrical condition of the atmosphere of New England on the 1st of August was considerably disturbed, thunder-showers occurring at many different places. When this is the case, it is reasonable to suppose that two showers, following down two neighboring valleys, may come together, and thus double the amount of electricity that might be possessed by one alone.

The question here occurs, "Is there any common origin between these thunder-showers and the northern lights?" Are they not each but a different means of restoring a disturbed electrical equilibrium? If this is the case, we might infer that, when thunder-showers are numerous and violent, the displays of the northern lights will be less frequent and less active, and vice versa; though there may be cases in which both become more than ordinarily active.

One of the discharges of electricity which we happened to observe during the shower was perhaps that one which fell upon the grist-mill. Amid the floods of descending rain, it looked like falling sparks of