The life of President Edwards: . ouds is much farther, and therefore is longer coming, and is amuch lower sound when it sounds. The rapid vibration of the air jars and jumbles, breaks and condenses,the bubbles of the cloud; whence it is, that, soon after hard claps of thun--der, rain falls in greater plenty. I regard Thunder as a meteor by far the most wonderful and least ex-plicable of any whatsoever. But that we may make some approaches tothe knowledge of the true nature of it, we shall lay down these followingpropositions. 1. The Streams of Lightning are not caused by any solid burning, orr
The life of President Edwards: . ouds is much farther, and therefore is longer coming, and is amuch lower sound when it sounds. The rapid vibration of the air jars and jumbles, breaks and condenses,the bubbles of the cloud; whence it is, that, soon after hard claps of thun--der, rain falls in greater plenty. I regard Thunder as a meteor by far the most wonderful and least ex-plicable of any whatsoever. But that we may make some approaches tothe knowledge of the true nature of it, we shall lay down these followingpropositions. 1. The Streams of Lightning are not caused by any solid burning, orred-hot mass of matter, exploded with such swiftness as to cause it to ap-pear as if there were one continued stream of light; nor are the effects ofLightning caused by the violent stroke of any such solid mass. For ifLightning were such a body projected, it would be projected according tothe laws of projected bodies; whereas the path of the Lightning is exceed-fngly far from it, being very crooked and angled. If Lightning were a. NOTES ON NATURAL SCIENCE. 743 solid body, projected ^roni ;ho c azd at A, towards E, with such a prudigioiis -=^ ^^ ^^=^^sf^^^S:^_r7:^:^cou:rity, it proceeds according to tlTe di- g|^^^^^y^^^^^^^sf:r^C^^rf-ct,ion A, very nearly, and turns short^^gS^^^^^s^.^^^^^S^^;^^at E in the free air, and so at F, B andC ; for, when it is projected with such aproditrious force, it must also be a ])rodi-gious force, that must change tlie courseof it so short, and not the force of thefree and yielding air.—But if any shouldBup])03e, that the change of tiie courseof the Lightning might be caused, byBome very violent eruptions of fire, atthese angles, where the course is chan-ged, that gives the thunderbolt a newprojection:—to this I reply, that thefiery stream of Lightning is smooth andeven^; but if there were any such neweruptions, they would be seen by a sud-^den and extraordinary expansion of the light, in those places. But whatproves, that this cannot be the re
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