400 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



less in space as long as the luminous impression which re- 

 vealed the ball remained upon the eye. 



If, then, a rifle-bullet move with sufficient rapidity to 

 destroy life without the interposition of sensation, much 

 more is a flash of lightning competent to produce this effect. 

 Accordingly, we have well-authenticated cases of people 

 being struck senseless by lightning who, on recovery, had 

 no memory of pain. The following circumstantial case is 

 described by Hemmer : 



On June 30, 1788, a soldier in the neighborhood of 

 Mannheim, being overtaken by rain, placed himself under 

 a tree, beneath which a woman had previously taken 

 shelter. He looked upward to see whether the branches 

 were thick enough to afford the required protection, and, 

 in doing so, was struck by lightning, and fell senseless to 

 the earth. The woman at his side experienced the shock 

 in her foot, but was not struck down. Some hours after- 

 ward the man revived, but remembered nothing about 

 what had occurred, save the fact of his looking up at the 

 branches. This was his last act of consciousness, and he 

 passed from the conscious to the unconscious condition 

 without pain. The visible marks of a lightning-stroke 

 are usually insignificant : the hair is sometimes burnt ; 

 slight wounds are observed ; while, in some instances, 

 a red streak marks the track of the discharge over the 

 skin. 



Under ordinary circumstances, the discharge from a 

 small Leyden-jar is exceedingly unpleasant to myself. 

 Some time ago I happened to stand in the presence of a 

 numerous audience, with a battery of fifteen large Leyden- 

 jars charged beside me. Through some awkwardness on 

 my part, I touched a wire leading from the battery, and 

 the discharge went through my body. Life was absolutely 

 blotted out for a very sensible interval, without a trace of 

 pain. In a second or so consciousness returned ; I saw my- 



