_The Great Exhibition._--It is well known that the vineyards of Switzerland
have been long protected from hail by means of upright poles having copper
wire attached to them, termed "paragreles," distant from each other from 60
to 100 feet. The formation of hail is an effect of which electricity is the
cause, and the cloud being deprived of this agent by the conductors,
descends in the shape of rain. Mr. John Murray, F.S.A., F.L.S., &c., in his
work on Switzerland, speaks very decidedly of their utility. Has then this
ingenious contrivance been considered with reference to the protection of
the Great Exhibition and its valuable, or rather invaluable, contents? or
why is it deemed inapplicable to the purpose?