198 WRITINGS OF JOSEPH HENRY. [1841 



were sensibly affected by the shock ; and another, in a room 

 with the windows closed, according to her own statement, 

 saw sparks of electricity on the floor. The same explanation 

 will also apply to these effects. 



During the same storm another house,* about three miles 

 southwest of the village, was struck, and this also was fur- 

 nished with an imperfect conductor. The upper part of the 

 rod had been broken, and it hung down, so that no part 

 was above the chimney. The lightning struck the eastern 

 chimney, which was on the end of the house opposite to that 

 to which the rod was attached, and passed down the inside 

 of the flue to the kitchen fire-place, in which wood was burn- 

 ing at the time. It threw down a great quantity of soot, filled 

 the lower rooms with smoke, and diffused, according to the 

 account, a strong smell of gunpowder. 



A part of the charge passed to the outside through the 

 thick stone wall which forms the back of the chimney, and 

 was evidently attracted by the iron hoop of a large cask 

 which was nearly against the wall. It made a triangular 

 hole, as if the stone and mortar had been burst outwards by 

 an explosive force, and this was directly opposite the nearest 

 part of the hoop. It then descended along the cask to the 

 ground, breaking off all the wooden hoops in its course, 

 -while those of iron were undisturbed. The house is about 

 sixty feet long; and from the state of the rod the greater 

 part of this distance might be considered as unprotected. 

 The stroke fell on the end most remote from the approaching 

 storm, and probably the lightning was drawn to this chimney 

 rather than the other on account of the heated air which was 

 escaping from it at the time. 



Effects were also produced in this case which can only be 

 explained on the principles of induction. Three persons, 

 the man of the house, his wife, and son, all took refuge on a 

 bed in a room separated from that through which the chim- 

 ney passes, and upwards of twenty feet from the line of the 

 electrical discharge. They were all lying across the bed, 

 with their feet hanging down the side, and they each received 



* The dwelling-house of Mr. Henry Philip. 



