BOOK III. CHAP. VII. 631 



rlca, and laden chiefly with rum; on board one of which, a gentleman 

 embarked paflTenger, with his wife and child. They had not left the 

 port many hours before a thunder gufl: came on; the lightning, at- 

 trafted by the iron fpinclles, fell on the fhip in which the gentleman 

 and his family were, and fct lire to the rum (probably cauled by the' 

 iron hoops on the puncheons), which blew up in a moment, and not a 

 foul on board efeaped; for the accident was fo fudden, that the veffel in 

 company could give no affiftance; and fo fatal, that it did not appear 

 any one individual furvived the explofion. 



Some veflels belonging to North America are furniflied with con'^ 

 duftors; others have wooden nuts or caps on their top gallant heads, 

 which are lefs dangerous ; but too many in the trade retain their f pin- 

 dies ; and, therefore, it is no wonder, confidering their multitude, that 

 many are every year ftruck, and much damaged, and others fent to the 

 bottom, and never afterwards heard of. 



As refin is a non-conduftor, or a repellent of the eleftric matter. To 

 it has been obferved, that when the deck of a fhip has been well paid 

 over with a coat of refin and turpentine, it has proved a means of pre- 

 ferving it, by ftrongly refilling the entrance of the lightning; and 

 fuch an inftance I remember to have read, of a fmall vcffel that was 

 ftruck on the coaft of Guiney. 



It is a good remark of Dr. Hales, that natural philofophy is not a 

 mere trifling amufement, as fome are apt to imagine; for it not only 

 delights the mind, and gives it the mod agreeable entertainment, to 

 lee in every thing the great wifdom, power, and goodnefs, of the Su- 

 preme Architeft; but is alfo the moft likely means of rendering the 

 gift of kind Providence, this natural world, the more convenient and 

 beneficial to us, by teaching us how to avoid what is hurtful, and pur- 

 fue what is mofl: ufeful and conducive to our welfare. 



Thankful therefore ought we to be to that Gracious Being, who, at 

 the fame time that he has for wife ends involved fome parts of his ma- 

 chinery in fuch concealment, as to be infcrutable by the human intel- 

 left, has, neverthelefs, permitted our attainment of the ufeful parts of 

 knowledge, or fuch as tend to inftruft us in the better prefervation of 

 life and health. 



Before I enter upon an examination of the different methods pro- 

 pofed for fhaping and fixing the ele<3:rical rods, recommended for pre- 

 ferving buildings, I fhall relate the hifiory of fome accidents by light- 

 ning, which fell within my notice or information, in Jamaica, becaufe 

 they will appear to corroborate very ftrongly the modern theory of 

 that fluid. 



In 1758, a white man having taken (helter under a large cotton 



tree 



