“GLOBULAR LIGHTNING.”

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1628, 13 May 1903, Page 58

“GLOBULAR LIGHTNING.”

Globular lightning is rather a rare phenomenon, and because of its peculiar behaviour in the atmosphere, and also of the inability of physicists to produce it in laboratories some scientists have oven doubted its existence. There are, however, several excellent records of its appearance, and a comparison of these wicn the accounts of the “electric fireball” at Cootamundra given m the local paper and the “Sydney Morning Tlerakl” adds another proof to establish this remarkable and mysterious action of atmospheric electricity. Globular lightning manifests itself in a luminous sphere, varying in diameter from a lew inches to even two or three feet. It moves very slowly, often, in a horizontal direction, usually descending from the skies, and after remaining visible some seconds, or even minutes, generally at last exploding with great force. Arago in liis meteorological essays cites several reports upon it. In one case, in Milan, in 1841. one of these globes moved street so slowly that the spectators walked after it to watch it, nud the narrator saw it from a window, and" then ran downstairs* and saw it for three minutes before it struck the cross on a church steeple and disappeared. In another instance, quoted by him, after remaining visible for over a minute, very like the moon when “it is augmented in size ... a terrible explosion Durst aside the envelope, and there darted from it ten or twelve zig 5 zag lightnings, which shot forth in all directions ; one of these struck a neighbouring house, where it made a hole in the wall as a cannon ball might have done.”

Dr R. H. Scott of the Royal Meteor-

ological Society, in his valuable work on meteorology, quoting from the “Quarterly Journal” of that Society, gives two other instances of this rare phenomenon.

“On July 11th, 1874, as Dr Tripe was watching the progress of the most fearful storm he ever witnessed of hail, rain, wind and lightning, and was looking due south, he saw a large ball of fire rise apparently about a mile distant from behind some low houses. The ball at first rose slowly, but accelerated its pace as it ascended, so as to acquire a very rapid motion. When it had risen about 45 degrees, it started in an acute angle towards the west, with such great rapidity as to produce the appearance of a flash of forked lightning. It made three zig-zags before it entered the dark cloud.” An account by Mr M. Fitzgerald, of Donegal, Ireland, is still more remarkable: —“I noticed,” he says, “a globe of fire in the air floating leisurely along. After passing the crown of the ridge, where I first noticed it, it descended gradually into the valley, keeping all the way about the saihe distance from the surface of the land, until it reached a stream about 300 yards from where I stood. It then struck the land, and reappeared in about a minute, drifted along the surface for about 200 yards, and again disappeared in the boggy soil, reappearing about twenty perches further down the stream; again it moved along the surtaoe, and again sank, this time into the bank of the stream, which it flew across, and finally lodged in the opposite bank, where it buried itself. I at once examined its course, and found a hole about twenty feet square, where it first touched the ground, with the pure peat turned out on the lea as if it had been cut with a huge knife. This was only one minute’s work, and as well a? I could judge, it did not occupy fully that time. It next made a trench about twenty perches in length and about four feet deej>, afterwards ploughed up the surface abo>ut one foot deepj and again tearing away the bank of the stream about five perches in length and five feet deep, and then, hurling the immense mass into the bed of the stream, it flew into the opposite peaty brink. From its first appearance

till it buried itself could not have been ;more than twenty minutes, during which ..it travelled leisurely, as if floating, with an undulatory motion through The air and land, over one mile. It appeared at first to be a bright red globular bail of fire, about two feet in diameter, but its bulk became rapidly less, particularly after each dip in the soil, so that it appeared not more than three inches in diameter when it finally disappeared.” In the Cootanvundra instance of globular lightning which occurred on the night of Friday, 25th tult., the attention of the witnesses Avas called to the phenomenon as it travelled the town by a dreadful and roaring noise. This is a remarkable feature and as the

“Sydney Morning Herald” points out, distinguishes it from the familiar brushlightning seen on houses, trees or masts or yards of vessels when the air is charged with electricity. This is known as St. Elmo’s fire, and is regarded as an omen of good luck by sailoi's. Another matter for comment is that this destructive lightning came, on the evening after a storm and flood on Thursday night, twenty-four hours previous. Thunderstorms are well known to have

relationship to distant cyclones. This ha.s been particularly observed in America and Germany, bot in Coo tain undra there was no thunder or other storm, only lightning. This absence of wind gave awe to the occurrence, and

adds mysteriousness to its consideration. Such visitations have not been recorded in New Zealand, although it may be noted that at Onehunga some twelve years ago a “fireball” was observed to fall into the harbour.

As yet the phenomenon has no scientific explanation.

—-D. C. 13.