LIGHTNING AND LIGHTNING C0NDUCT0B8. |Q 



95. A circumstance of an exceedingly interesting character, 

 and replete with valuable instruction, occurred when this 

 church was struck by lightning. When the lightning left 

 the injured turret, it sprang from one iron cramp to another, 

 demolishing the elegant ornamental masonry on the parapet 

 on its way to a leaden gutter, which conducted it to a cast 

 iron water-pipe situated in one of the angles of the tower, 

 and reaching from the top down to the roof of the church, 

 round which are leaden gutters for conveying the rain-water 

 to other cast iron pipes which reach the ground. Whilst on 

 the top of the tower, examining the nature and extent of the 

 damage, I had some difficulty in discovering the route of the 

 lightning, until the sexton who was with me, informed me 

 of the iron pipe inside of the tower. On returning to the 

 bell-loft, I examined the water-pipe very minutely, under the 

 expectation of finding it damaged by the lightning, but I 

 could not discover the slightest breach; the sexton told 

 me that a great quantity of water had fallen on the floor 

 below (the floor of the ringing loft), but it was not known 

 where it came from. We descended to the place, and I soon 

 discovered that one of the pipes was broken and a large piece 

 of it was missing. On looking on the floor at the opposite 

 angle, we found several fragments of the pipe which had been 

 blown from the injured part. At my request, the remaining 

 portions of the cast iron pipe were examined, from the top of 

 the steeple to the ground, and three or four of the lengths, at 

 their junction with one another, were similarly damaged. 



The suspicion of some damage having been done to this 

 water channel, arose from my knowing that the several 

 lengths of which it is composed are insulated from one 

 another by means of the cement (generally stiff white-lead 

 paint) employed at the joints, for rendering those parts water- 

 tight. These interruptions in the circuit will always be liable 

 to lightning explosions ; and, of course, endanger the pipe at 



