FRANKLIN'S KITE EXPERIMENT. 



745 



preceding the wind rush the kite would fall. It was not until 

 August 9th that we succeeded in going through a storm with the 

 kite still flying. About 11 A. M. the kite was sent aloft, and it 

 remained aloft until after 10 P. M. From the observatory one can 

 see to the west fifty or more miles, and a thunderstorm came 

 into view just about sunset. The kite was flying steadily, and 

 whenever a finger was held near the kite wire there was a per- 

 fect fusillade of sparks. As the darkness increased, the polished 

 metallic and glass surfaces in the large electrometer reflected the 

 sparks, now strong enough to jump across the air gaps, and the 

 incessant sizzling threatened to burn out the instrument. The 

 vividness of the lightning in the west also made it plain that the 

 storm was one of great violence, and as the observatory itself 

 would be jeopardized, one of the four men present proposed to 

 cut the wired string 

 and let the kite go. 

 But even that was 

 easier said than done, 

 for to touch the 

 string was to receive 

 a severe shock. It 



was necessary. 



how- 



ever, to get out of 

 the scrape, and one 

 of the party took the 

 kite string and broke 

 the connection with 

 the electrometer and 

 insulators. While he 

 was in the act of 

 doing this, the oth- 

 ers, who by this time 

 were outside the 

 building, saw a flash 

 of lightning to the 

 west of the hill. The 

 observer who was 

 undoing the kite wire 

 did not see this flash. 

 He saw a brilliant 



flare-up in the electrometer, and at the same instant felt a severe 

 blow across both arms. Notwithstanding, he loosened the wire, 

 and, dropping an end without, it took but a few moments to make 

 it fast on the hillside some distance away from the observatory. 

 There it remained for the rest of the night. A 105- volt incandes- 

 cent lamp was placed between the end of the kite wire and a wire 



HARGRAVE KITE. 



