134 Preventive Measures against Lightning, 



and comprehends, that it does not produce much apparent da- 

 mage, except at the spots where it made its entrance and its 

 exit. It may readily be supposed, that it is the same also 

 with bodies of a different nature ; but how this rule can extend 

 to instances in which there are considerable interruptions of conti- 

 nuity, does not so readily appear. How it happens then, that 

 thirty horses^ placed as horses usually are in a stable, should 

 be considered, so far as the effects of lightning are concerned, 

 as a single continued mass, having a beginning and an end, will 

 probably surpass the comprehension of every one. It is difficult, 

 however, to have recourse to any other analogy to account for 

 the curious phenomenon which has last been brought under re- 

 view. 



Franklin has given directions for the use of those persons, who 

 being alarmed at lightning, are in houses unprotected by light- 

 ning-conductors, at the time of a thunder-storm. He advises 

 them to avoid the neighbourhood of chimneys ; and this, be- 

 cause lightning often enters into rooms by them, because the 

 soot they contain, like metals, possesses properties which at- 

 tracts lightning. For this same reason, a person should move 

 as far as possible from metals, and from mirrors, on account 

 of their tin-plates, and from gilded articles. The best resort 

 seems to be the middle of the apartment, provided there is no 

 lustre or lamp suspended from the ceiling. The less that one 

 touches the walls and the floor, the less are they exposed ; 

 and hence the safest of all expedients would be to retire into a 

 hammock, suspended by silken cords, in the centre of a large 



On the 12th of April 1781, MM, d'Aussac, de Gautran, and de LamUongucj 

 were struck with lightning near Castres. The three horses which these 

 gentlemen rode, were killed, whilst only one of the gentlemen, M. d'Aussac, 

 became its victim. In June 1826, a flash of lightning killed a mare near 

 Worcester, whilst the boy, who was leading it, experienced no serious 

 injury. In June 1810, when M. Co wens' dog was sitting by his side, 

 lightning entered his apartment, and killed the dog on the spot, whilst 

 M. C. himself was scarcely conscious of any shock. As already reported, 

 the lightning, on the 11th of July 1819, killed nine persons during divine 

 service, at Chateau-Neuf-les-Moutiers ; we have still to add, that at the 

 same time, all the dogs in the building were killed ; and these animals 

 were found in the very attitudes they had occupied at the time of the de- 

 scent of the meteor. 



