248 STATE BOAED OF AGHICULTUEE, 



way I there directed, will bo a protection to a building to wliicli it is applied ; 

 and if I had a barn-full of hay and grain, I should feel safer if it had such a 

 •rod. But in the trashy patented rods we so often find, — rods confessedly made 

 'of the poorest quality of iron, and so constructed as to rust off at the joints in a 

 ■short time, — rods with a central core of poor iron but coated over with a thin 

 wrapping of copper, so as to look like a solid copper rod, — rods twisted and 

 -convoluted in astonishing forms, — in such rods I do not believe. I fear that as 

 they are sometimes put up they are a source of danger rather than protection. 

 A friend lately said to me, ''I know of five buildings struck by lightning, and 

 tbey all had lightning-rods, and some of them had two ! • ' — " How many build- 

 ings do 3'ou know which had no rods and yet were struck by lightning?" — "Not 

 one !" Intelligent farmers usually draw their own conclusions. 



Agricultural College, Jan. 28, 1876. 



MK. LAXPHERE'S reply TO DR. KEDZIE. 

 From the Coldwater Republican, Feb. 25. 



I did not intend by my article of January 25tli to invite a controversy with 

 Dr. Kedzie, but to show that I, at least, did not accept his conclusions as cor- 

 rect. While it was noticeable that the experience of intelligent farmers, — who 

 expressed themselves freely at the institute, — did not agree Avith the doctor's 

 theories relative to the use of plaster and its resvdts, the general silence of his 

 audience upon the subject of lightning-rods led many to suppose that his views 

 thereon were accepted jis correct. I iKit do justice, however, to several promi- 

 nent professional gentlemen who were present, to say that they have since 

 expressed their unqualified dissent from a doctrine so new, so novel, and so 

 entirely wanting in the important element of fact. Nor do I now desire con- 

 troversy. Indeed, I did not then, nor do not now consider tne question a debat- 

 able one ; and when I quoted in opposition to the doctor such authorities as 

 Silliman's Chemistry, AVell's Natural Philosophy, Draper's Chemistry, 01m- 

 ■ stead's Philosophy, Memoirs d' Academic, General Science, Chamber's Cyclo- 

 pedia, Cyclopedia Britannica, and the American Cyclopedia, I supposed they 

 were of sufficient weight to command the respect of not only the community at 

 large, but even of Dr. Kedzie himself. In this, however, it seems I was mis- 

 taken, for Dr. Kedzie with an imperious wave of his pen pronounces the author- 

 ities quoted by Mr. Lanphere, Avhich are of any weight, old and antiquated," 

 and brushes the authors aside as "compilers of text-books for district schools, 

 or those employed to Avrite up some subject for a cyclopedia." The absurdity 

 of this "fling" at district schools and cyclopedias will be apparent Avhen we 

 remember that the scientific works mentioned have been extensively used as 

 text-books, not only in district schools, of Avhich the doctor speaks Avith evident 

 contempt, but in the academies and colleges throughout the land ; Avhile those 

 selected to write up scientific subjects for the cyclo2:)edia are men Avho occupy 

 no questionable position in the science upon Avhich they are called to Avrite. 



After his hasty, and, to himself, apparently satisfactory way of disposing of 

 the authorities cited, he proceeds to quote from men "Avho," to use his lan- 

 guage, are everyAvhere regarded as masters in this branch of science, in England, 

 France, Switzerland and the United States," viz. : Faraday, Miller, Deschanel, 

 De la EIa'C, and Henry. Noav let us see just Avhat bearing the quotations from 

 these foreign gentlemen have upon the subject at issue. 



Faraday's opinion was asked specifically as to Avhether " a flat strip of copper 



