Abstract
As one of my younger sons remarked to me some time ago—it is impossible, in these days, to get up a scrap! I challenge the current explanation—we cannot yet call it a theory, but, again, in these days, no one has care of words, every one calls his pet notion a theory—of the origin of the electricity let loose in thunderstorms, raising thereby an entirely fundamental issue. Yet no one dare face the problem. In these days, we have no regard for fundaments; our care is only for the chimney-pots; we devote ourselves to polishing these, forgetting that often the foundation of the house is yet to be built. I privately challenge the Sage of Salisbury, who formerly took some interest in electrical phenomena and lightning conductors and deigned to consort with us weak chemical vessels; his reply is proof that he has not seized my point and is “up above the world so high” that he cares only to contemplate electrons in transcendental garb, not in that of the vulgar raindrop. Big as he is, he has wrapped himself up snugly within the atom and won't consider what happens between at'ems—when they are molecules and interact.
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ARMSTRONG, H. Problems of Hydrone and Water: the Origin of Electricity in Thunderstorms. Nature 112, 827 (1923). https://doi.org/10.1038/112827a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/112827a0
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