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To the Editor of the *' Ceylon Observer." 



PALMS AND LIGHTNING : LIGHTNING 

 CONDUCTOES. 



Colombo, 4th August 1886. 



Sib, — Though it is some time since you had 

 an article on the above, I will act up to the saying 

 " better late than never " and endeavour to ex- 

 plain why palms, which seem externally only slightly 

 affected by a discharge of the electric fluid, be 

 doomed to die. 



What causes the discharge to come to earth ? 

 It 15'. that the tension of the countrary polar elec- 

 tricity becomes so great as to overcome the resist- 

 ance offered by the intervening air to their union. 

 Now as electricity always takes the less resisting 

 medium, and air (especially dry air) being the 

 worst conductor, it is natural that high trees and 

 buildings will be chosen in its passage to earth ; 

 then, as water (especially acidulated water) is the best 

 conductor, the fluid will choose the most sappy trees 

 though they may not be the highest. As coconut 

 trees are the first high points which the monsoon 

 clouds meet on striking the island it is natural 

 that they should be the greatest suft'erers, and as 

 a single coconut tree is not sufficient to carry off' 

 the fluid other trees within a more or less ex- 

 tended radius according to the quantity of the dis- 

 charge are also affected. A queer effect on a tree 

 may be seen in front of Aitken, Spence & Co.'s 

 office. 



The reason that palms and plantains which have 

 served to carry off the fluid are doomed to die is 

 simply because their life lies in a single sprout 

 in the most sappy, i e., the best conducting por- 

 tion of the tree, and the quantity of fluid which is 

 suflicient to singe the outer leaves is quite enough 

 to boil the life out of the tender shoot. Other 

 trees, animals and human beings are only affected 

 inasmuch as their life-sustaining properties have 

 been injured. 



While on the subject of lightning, a few lines 

 about lightning-protectors (commonly called con- 

 ductors; may be useful to dispel a few popular 

 errors. The principal action of the iirotector is to 

 neutralise the electricity in the clouds by discharg- 

 ing into the upper air fluid of a different polarity, 

 thus acting as a " discharger." Its other important 

 action is to act as a "conductor" to the electric 

 discharge by offering to it the easiest passage to 

 earth, vnce the discharge has taken place within 

 its radius. Many persons, especially natives, be- 

 lieve that Ijghtning-protectors act as lightning 

 " attractors," and for this reason will not put up 

 any on their buildings— a great error I should 

 think. 



It may astonish you to learn that there is only 

 one thorou^^hly well protected building in Colombo 

 and that is the Wharf and Warehouse Company's 

 premises at the Wharf, which can be classed A 1. 

 In the next class come the Colombo Club, the 

 Clock Tower, and perhaps the Surveyor-General's 

 Office. On the first of these, though the protector 

 is well put up, there are portions of the building 

 beyond its radius. In the case of the second a 

 grave error has been committed by not metallically 

 connecting the iron ladders and weight pipe in the 

 nterior to the protector. As to the Surveyor- 

 iGeneral's Ofiice, with half the weight of metal 

 used it might be twice as well protected. 



There are many buildings, and mill chimneys 

 principally, which might with advantage have their 

 lightning-protectors refitted ; arid in the case of 

 the barracks, the Military Hospital, Pe Soysa'« 



buildings and a few more likely exposed buildings, 

 their non -protection simply amounts to gross neglect, 

 and I should certainly not like to find myself 

 within an appreciable distance of the Ice Manu- 

 facturing Company's chimney even during the sligh- 

 test thuii ]■ rstorm, leaving, out of the question !||ys 

 like the 3id and 4th of M^y last, the like of which 

 ' for electric discharp rr; I have never come across. 

 Apologising for taking up so much of your valu- 

 able time and space, yours faithfully. 



Q. E. D. 

 [We have to thank our correpondent for his 

 clear explanation of what to us has long, in re- 

 gard to lightning-struck palms, been a mystery. 

 The general information also, is valuable. — Ed.i 



THE "TUMBA PLANT," AN ALLEGED 

 CURE OF SNAKEBITE. 



SiK, — A native Indian medical practitioner, writing 

 to the Madras Standard, declares that the juice of 

 the " Tnmba plant" is an antidote for snake-bites, 

 and gives directions for its use. Will you kindly 

 inform me by what name this plant is known to 

 botanists, and whether it is to be found in this 

 island ?— Yours truly, INQUIRER. 

 No. II. 



don't die in the house — THE " TUMBA PLANT* — A 

 NEW PRODUCT — AN ANTIDOTE POU SNAKE-BITES? 



Kelvin Grove, Colombo, 20th July 1886. 

 Dear Sir, — Instead of adding a footnote to the 

 letter of "Inquirer" on the subject of the "Tumba 

 plant" as an antidote to snake-bite which you have 

 submitted to me, I make you the following remarks : 

 — When staying at the late Dr. Elliott's at Kollu- 

 pitiya about 25 to 30 years ago, one evening after 



I we had finished dinner '^ John Colombo" the head 

 appu rushed in and said to the Doctor! "Sir, sir, 

 the Sinhalese woman that you cured is dead \" We 

 all joined the Doctor in a hearty laugh at his 

 "perfect cure," the facts of which were that a mad 

 dog attacked a Sinhalese girl close to the Doctor's 



I house and bit her severely in several places, and 

 when she was brought to the Doctor he at once 



i did all he could to cauterize the wounds to prevent 

 hydrophobia, but though the wounds healed, and the 

 woman was so far cured, hydrophobia set in and 

 she died. The application is obvious. 



I cannot find such a name as the "Tumba plant" 

 in any book at my disposal, but a very common 

 plant in Ceylon is the Getatumba, Liu. Leucas 

 Zeylonica, Br., but I do not believe that this or auy 

 other vegetable or miueral antidote has ever been 

 found for snake-bite; that is for the regular in- 

 jection into the circulation of the poison of a deadly 

 SNAKE of mature age; therefore I do not believe in 

 the cure of a cobra-bite by a Mudaliyar described 

 in a late number of your paper. No such cure has 

 ever occurred in all India or Ceylon as far as true 

 records are concerned. 



About the same time that I refer to, several grass- 

 cutters and other natives used to come to Doctor 

 Elliott to get cured of snake-bites, and the Doctor 

 and myself believed that he was successful in his 

 operations in this respect. 



The patients used to come stating that they had 

 been bitten b}' poisonous suakes and were in great 

 pain. The Doctor searched for the part bitten and 

 generally found it swollen, and he at once raised it 

 by a hooked instrument and cut the piece out, and 

 the patient soon got better ; but those were from the 

 bites of the small venomous and not deadly snakes, 

 or scorpions etc., no doubt, and, as already stated, 

 I do not believe in any nntidote internal or external 

 for the poison of a deadly snake, once it enters into 



j the circulation, and no such antidote has ever been 

 found. 



I Will your correspondent "Inquirer'' mention tlie 

 language from which the "Tumba plant" has been 

 derived? How very strange it seems that most of 

 the new and remarkable products have names not 



i found in an^ native or Enropoan hooks.-- lourn 

 truly, * vv. i<\ 



