100 



PROTECTION FROM LIGHTNING. 



idea, by relating two cases in 1828, in which beds were completely destroyed 

 by lightning, while the persons who lay in them were uninjured. Against 

 this, however, many contrary instances may be cited. On the 29th of Septem- 

 ber, 1779, Mr. Hearthhy was killed in his bed, by lightning, at Harrowgate, 

 while his wife, who lay beside him, escaped. On the 27th of September, 

 1819, a servant was killed in her bed at Confolens, in France. In 1837, a 

 house was struck with lightning at Kensington, near London, where a man and 

 his wife were killed in their bed. 



The Romans believed that seal's skin was a preservative against lightning ; 

 and tents were made of this material for timid persons to shelter under in 

 storms. Augustus was always provided with a seal's skin cloak. However 

 ineffectual may be such an expedient, experience abundantly proves that the 

 material of the dress is not without considerable influence on the course which 

 lightning follows, and may, therefore augment or diminish the peril of the wear- 

 ers. When lightning struck the church at Chateau-nevf-les-Moutiers, during 

 the celebration of mass, of the three priests who officiated at the altar, two were 

 struck dead and the third was uninjured. The vestments of the last were of 

 silk. 



There are some well-attested facts which indicate a relation between color 

 and the movements of the electric fluid. Three cases are cited in which hor- 

 ses and oxen having white spots were struck by lightning, and had all the 

 white hair burned off, while the remainder of the hide remained unaltered. 



It has been supposed that certain species of trees are proof against lightning, 

 and never struck by it. Tiberius was accustomed to wear a crown of laurel, 

 from the idea that lightning never struck it. Observations made in districts 

 where extensive forests present all varieties of trees to the chances of the 

 storm, afford no grounds for any certain conclusions on this subject. 



When assailed by a storm in an open plain, the danger is greatly augmented 

 by seeking the shelter of a tree. Experience and theory combine to prove 

 this. The position of greatest safety is such a distance from the tree that it 

 shall act as a conductor, diverting the lightning from the place assumed for 

 •safety. A distance of half a dozen yards may serve for this purpose. 



Glass, being a non-conductor of electricity, is generally supposed to have a 

 protective virtue. Thus it has been presumed that a person enclosed in a cage 

 of glass exposed to a thunder-storm would be in absolute safety. This is 

 proved to be a fallacy by many examples of lightning striking and penetrating 

 the panes of windows and the frames of conservatories. 



Nothing is more clearly established than that pieces of metal of any kind, car- 

 ried about the person, augment the danger of being struck by lightning ; and this 

 increase of peril is greater in proportion to the magnitude of the metallic appen- 

 dages. That this material principle, illustrating, as it does, one of the elemen- 

 tary laws of electricity, may be appreciated as fully as it ought to be, we shall 

 liere cite some of the numerous recorded examples of it. 



On the 21st of July, 1819, lightning struck the prison of Biberac, in Swabia, 

 and, passing into the grand hall, struck an individual prisoner who was one in 

 u group of twenty ; the nineteen others were untouched. This individual was 

 a brigand chief, who, being under sentence, was chained round the waist. 



When Saussure and his party were at Breven, in 1767, the metal band and 

 ; gold button on the hat of M. Jallabat emitted sparks. 



Constantini relates, that, in 1749, a lady, wearing on her arm a gold brace- 

 | -1st, raised her hand to shut the window during a thunder-storm ; the bracelet 

 i suddenly disappeared ; not the slightest trace of it remained. The lady was 

 ! slightly wounded. 



Brydone relates that a lady of his acquaintance, Mrs. Douglas, sitting at an 



