^<l Auount of -■& Jingular Accident b-y Lightnini^. 



in a manner fo differently from what it bad done in other parts of tli€ body, Are cir- 

 cumftauces forwliich it is difficult to account. The exlenfive excwiation ©n the thighs 

 and hands ^^^as evidently burning, produced by tlie eleftric matter paffing over thofe 

 ■parts, but no fuch appearance could be traced on the head. The canVas cap hi had on 

 was found entire, neither was the hair fo much as fingcd ; fo that the' j>art could not be 

 faid to be burnt. Indeed the whole appearances are againft fuch a conclufion, for had 

 this been the cafe, fome degree of inflammation would have been obfervable previous to 

 gangrene. The only attempt towards an explanation that I have to offer on the fabjeft, i» 

 to refer it to a kno\vn law of the effefts produced by very powerful ftimillints oh the 

 living animal body : which when applied in too great quantity exhaud it indantly of 

 its vital or irritable principle. It is in this manner that e!e£lrici(y or lightning afts when 

 death is produced ; and in a like manner it is probable that the moil powerful poifons, 

 fuch as the Ticunas and Upaz ^m produce their effcfls. So that what happened in 

 the prefent cafe may be confideredas death m one fmall fpot, occafioncd by the imme- 

 diate and total extinftion of the irritable principle, from an over do fe of cleftric mattehr, 

 (tlie moft powerful ai>d moft diffufible of all flimuli,) and necelFarily running to 

 mortification as a piece of dead animal matter. Its partial aftion is the difficulty for 

 which I pretend not to accotint> 



The foldier bad cxaftly the appearance of people defcribed to have been killed by 

 lightning. The body retained its heat a very confiderabie time alter death, the mufclcs 

 never became rigid, and appearances of putrefcency very foon prefehted themfelves. 



The local fitiiation of thofe two men at the time the lightning came in contaft with 

 the ffiip, ueceffarily expofed tliem more than others. The foldier was leaning againft 

 the water engine, which has a good deal of iron in its conllruftion, and being fentry 

 had a bayonet attached to him. The failor, as already mentioned, was leaning againft 

 tlie forcmaft, which being wet by the previous rain was juft in a ftate ready to conduft 

 elcftiic matter^ and confequently rendered him more obnoxious to its influence than 

 had he been detached at fome diftance-. 



Five or fix pigs, in a ftyC; near the head of the fliip, were killed, while others in the 

 fame fittiation, but feparated by canvas, entirely efcapod. One pig on the gun-deck 

 was killed, arid five or fix had palfy produced in their hind quarters. 



Aug. 14, 1798. Examined the wound on the head of the failor, this mbrning, and 

 found a portion of the bone, nearly the fize of the niortified fpot, quite loofe and likely 

 to feperate entfrely in a few days. This exfoliation exitends to the outer table only. 



It Jhould have been obferved that no mafk trf external violence was obfervable on 

 any part of the body of the foldier. 



A 



