LII LIGHTNING IRRESISTIBLE 97 



force of the same flash produces many varieties of 

 damage in the same material. For example, in a 

 tree it scorches any portion that is very dry ; what 

 is firm and hard it bores through and smashes ; the 

 outer bark it scatters, the inner layers nearer the 

 centre it bursts and cuts up, the leaves it lashes and 

 strips off. Wine is frozen, iron and copper fused. 



LIII 



IT is a strange fact that when wine that has been 

 thus frozen is used after it returns to its liquid state, it 

 either kills or drives mad those who have drunk of it. 

 When one inquires why this effect should be pro- 

 duced, the suggestion presents itself that the 

 lightning contains a pestilential force, some taint 

 of which probably is left in the liquid it has con- 

 densed and frozen. Indeed, the substance could 

 never have been solidified had not some bond of 

 cohesion been introduced. Moreover, in oil and 

 every kind of unguent there is a foul smell after 

 lightning has touched them. Whence it is manifest 

 that this subtle fire, driven in a direction contrary 

 to its nature, contains a pestilential power, for not 

 only its blow but even its mere breath is over- 

 whelming. Moreover, wherever lightning has 

 struck there is sure always to be a smell of sulphur, 

 a substance which, being naturally poisonous, causes 

 delirium if breathed too freely. But we shall 

 return to this point when we are more at leisure. 

 For I should like some day to prove the extent to 

 which the world is indebted to philosophy, the 

 parent of the arts, for knowledge of all such 

 matters. She it was that first both investigated the 



H 



