PROTECTION FROM LIGHTNING. 



101; 



open window, during a storm, had her bonnet completely destroyed, but suffered 

 no injury in her person. He accounts for this by the wire of the form of the 

 bonnet attracting the lightning. 



These, and many other instances which might be mentioned, sufficiently 

 prdve that safety is best consulted in time of storm, by laying aside all metal- 

 lic appendages of the person, such as chains, watches, ear-rings, hair orna- 

 ments, &c. The source of the greatest danger is in the bars or plates of steel 

 which are used in the corsets of females, and which ought to be abandoned by 

 all ladies who do not desire to invite the approach of lightning. 



It has been already shown that when lightning passes along a line of con- 

 ducting matter, the only points where explosion takes place and damage en- 

 sues, are at the parts where lightning enters and leaves the conductor ; and as 

 a necessary consequence of this, all interruption of continuity in any part of 

 a conductor or series of conductors is attended with explosion and correspond- 

 ing damage. Since, then, the bodies of men and animals afford a free passage 

 to the electric fluid, it may be expected by analogy that when lightning is trans- 

 mitted through a chain of animals, either in mutual contact or connected by 

 conductors, the chief if not the only injury would be sustained by the first and 

 last individuals of the series. This principle is accordingly supported by the 

 results of experience. The following instances will illustrate it : — 



On the 2d of August, 1785, a stable at Rambouillet was struck by lightning*. 

 A file of thirty-two horses received the fluid : of these, the first was laid stirT 

 dead, and the last was severely wounded. The intermediate thirty were only 

 thrown down. 



On the 22d of August, 1808, lightning struck a schoolroom in Knonau, in 

 Switzerland. Five children read together on the same bench : the first and 

 last were struck dead, the other three only sustained a shock. 



At Flavigny (Cote-d'Or) lightning struck a chain of five horses, killing the 

 first two and the last two, the middle horse suffering nothing. At a village in 

 Franche-Comte, lightning struck a chain of five horses, killing the first and last 

 only. At Praville, near Chartres, a miller walked between a horse and a 

 mule loaded with grain : lightning struck them, killing the horse and mule. 

 The man was unhurt, except that his hat was burnt and his hair singed. 



The danger from lightning during storms may be lessened by observing 

 some precautions suggested by the known properties of the electric fluids. 

 Chimneys often afford an entrance to lightning, the soot which lines them be- 

 ing a conductor. Keep, therefore, at a distance from them. Avoid the neigh- 

 borhood of all pieces of metal, gilt objects, such as the frames of glasses, pic- 

 tures, and chandeliers. Mirrors, being silvered on the back, augment the 

 danger. Avoid the proximity of bell-wires. The middle of a large room in 

 which no chandelier is suspended is the safest position, and is rendered still 

 more so by standing on a plate of glass, or a cake of resin or pitch, or sitting 

 on a chair suspended by silken cords. 



The danger of being struck with lightning is augmented by being placed in 

 a crowd of persons. The living body being a conductor of electricity, a con- 

 nected mass of such bodies is more likely to be stricken, for the same reason 

 that a large mass of metal is more liable than a small one. 



Besides this, the vapor which arises from the transpiration of a crowd of per- 

 sons, rising through the air, plays the part of a conductor, and attracts the light- 

 ning in the same manner as a metallic rod, though in a less degree. For these 

 reasons, those who are very solicitous for their personal security, should not re- 

 main in churches, theatres, or other places of public assembly, during a storm. 

 The same causes expose flocks of sheep and herds of cattle or horses collected 

 together in the same stable, to increased danger. Barns and granaries are lia- 



