-1859] WRITINGS OF JOSEPH HENRY. 377 



observed. A small portion of the charge however diverged 

 to a second gas-pipe in an adjoining room. The back build- 

 ing was of wood, and the passage of the charge appeared to 

 be facilitated by a large nail. The discharge was marked 

 throughout its course by the effects it produced : 1st, the 

 point of the rod was melted ; 2d, a glass insulating cylinder 

 through which the upper part of the rod passed was broken 

 in pieces ; 3d, the horizontal clapboard extending from the 

 rod to the eave was splintered ; 4th, the tin of the gutters and 

 spout exhibited signs of fusion ; 5th, the plaster was broken 

 around the hole through which the charge entered the house. 



The lightning-rod of the house which was struck in Wash- 

 ington was placed on the north gable ; the electricity left 

 the conductor at the apex of the roof, descended along the 

 angle of the coping and the roof, which was lined with tin, 

 to the northwest eave of the main building, thence south- 

 ward along a tin gutter until it met a perpendicular tin 

 spout, which conducted it to a point on the outside of the 

 back building corresponding to a gas-pipe within ; it then 

 pierced a nine-inch brick wall and struck the gas-pipe, that 

 which was embedded in the wall of the main building, at 

 the distance of 15 inches horizontally north of the hole which 

 it pierced in entering the interior. A lady was sitting with 

 her back toward the point where the discharge entered the 

 gas-pipe, at the distance of 18 inches, and though she was 

 somewhat stunned at the time, and perceived a ringing 

 sensation in her ears for some time after, she received no 

 permanent injury. 



At the last meeting of the American Association, Pro- 

 fessor Benjamin Silliman, Jr., described two instances of a 

 similar character, in which the discharge from the cloud 

 struck twice, in different years, the lightning-rod of the 

 steeple of a church in New Haven, left the conductor and 

 entered the building, to precipitate itself on the gas-pipes of 

 the interior. The remarkable fact was stated in connection 

 with this occurrence, that the joinings of the gas-mains 

 under the street on the outside of the building were loosened, 

 apparently by the mechanical efifect of the discharge, and 



