64 



THE EFFECTS OF LIGHTNING. 



that the air was infected with a sulphureous odor so strong as to check respi- 

 ration, especially in the woods. 



On another occasion, the same observer, crossing a hill after sunset, was 

 overtaken by rain so terrible, that it seemed as though heaven and earth were 

 coming together. There were loud claps of thunder, and the lightning was 

 attended by an odor of sulphur so intense that the travellers were nearly suffo- 

 cated by it. 



Boyle, in his memoirs for a general history of the air, relates that in a thun- 

 der-storm which he encountered on the borders of the lake of Geneva, the 

 air was impregnated with a sulphureous odor so strong, that a sentinel sta- 

 tioned near the lake was nearly suffocated. 



Legentil witnessed a storm in the Isle of France, in February, 1771, in 

 which a strong sulphureous odor was perceived. 



On the 4th of November, 1749, in north latitude forty-two degrees and forty- 

 eight minutes, and west longitude three degrees, the ship Montague was struck 

 by lightning. It seemed as if the vessel was filled with burning sulphur. 



On the 19th of April, 1827, the packet-ship New York, in north latitude 

 thirty-eight degrees, and west longitude fifty-three degrees, was twice struck 

 by lightning, being nearly five hundred miles from land. When first struck, 

 the paratonnerre was not put up ; yet the lightning, finding metallic bodies in 

 its route, was conducted to the water, having done much injury to the vessel. 

 The cabins were filled with a thick sulphureous smoke. When she was 

 struck the second time, the paratonnerre was in its place, and no damage was 

 done ; nevertheless, various parts of the ship, and the ladies' cabin in particu- 

 lar, was filled with sulphureous vapor so thick that objects could not be seen 

 through it. 



On the 31st of December, 1778, at three o'clock, P. M., the India Company's 

 ship Atlas, lying in the Thames, was struck by lightning, and a sailor was 

 killed in the rigging. The ship for a moment seemed to be on fire, but in fact 

 suffered no damage ; a strong sulphureous odor was, however, diffused through 

 it, which continued during the day and ensuing night. 



On the 18th of July, 1707, lightning passed down the flues of six chimneys 

 of a house in the Rue Plumet in Paris. A suffocating odor was diffused 

 through the house. 



On the 18th of February, 1770, the church of St. Kevern, Cornwall, was 

 struck with lightning during Divine service, when the whole congregation 

 were* struck senseless. The church was filled with a suffocating sulphureous 

 odor. 



On the 11th of July, 1819, the church at Chateauneuf-les-Monstiers (Basses 

 Alfes) being struck by lightning, was filled with a dense black smoke, which 

 rendered it so dark that one could walk in it only by groping. 



That the sulphureous odor developed by lightning arises from the actual 

 presence of some vaporous matter, seems to be demonstrated by those observa- 

 tions in which an opaque cloudy vapor filled the rooms. Whether the matter 

 diffused through the air is transported from the upper regions of the atmosphere 

 by the lightning, or is developed by the action of the lightning on the bodies 

 which it strikes, is still undecided. The possibility of matter being brought 

 by the lightning from the clouds is countenanced by the phenomena of ball- 

 lightning, and by the results of the investigations of M. Fusinieri. Although 

 the odor diffused by lightning has been generally compared to that produced 

 by the combustion of sulphur, some observers have assimilated it to phospho- 

 rus, and others to nitrous gas. If the last were its true description, an easy 

 explanation of it would be obtained by considering the effects of electricity on 

 the constituents of the atmosphere. 



