12 



♦ KNO^ATLEDGE ♦ 



[November 1, 1888. 



present in the church, all of which icere killed. It has also 

 been observed that dark-coloured animals are more liable to 

 be struck (other circumstances being the same) than the 

 liwht-coloured. Nay, more; dappled and piebald animals 

 have been struck ; and it has been noticed that after the 

 stroke, the hair on the lighter parts has come off at the 

 slightest touch, while the hair on the darker parts has not 

 been affected at all. It seems probable, therefore, that silk 

 and felt clothing, and thick black cloth, afford a sort of 

 pi-otection, though not a very trustworthy one, to those who 

 wear them. 



The notion has long been prevalent that metallic articles 

 should not be worn during a thunderstorm. There can be 

 no doubt that large metallic masses, on or near the person, 

 attract danger. Arago cites a very noteworthy instance of 

 this. On July 21, 1819, while a thunderstorm was in pro- 

 gress, there were assembled twenty prisoners in the great 

 hall of Biberach Gaol. Amongst them stood their chief, 

 who had been condemned to death, and was chained by the 

 waist. A heavy stroke of lightning fell on the prison, and 

 the chief was killed, while his companions escaped. 



It is not quite so clear that small metallic articles are 

 sources of danger. The fact that when persons have been 

 struck, the metallic portions of their attire have been in 

 every case affected by the lightning, affords only a presump- 

 tion on this point, since it does not follow that these metallic 

 articles have actually attracted the lightning-stroke. In- 

 stances in which a metallic object has been struck, while the 

 wearer has escaped, are more to the point, though some will 

 be apt to recognise here a protecting agency rather than the 

 reverse. It is related by Kundmann that a stroke of light- 

 ning once struck and fusul a brass bodkin worn by a young 

 girl to fasten her hair, and that she was not even burned. 

 A lady (Arago tells us) h.id a bracelet fused from her wrist 

 without suffering any injury. And we frecpiently see in 

 the newspapers accounts of similar escapes. If it is con- 

 ceded that in these instances the metal has attracted the 

 lightning, it will, of course, be abundantly clear that it is 

 preferable to remove from the person all metallic objects, 

 such as watches, chains, bracelets, and rings, when a 

 thunderstorm is in progress. If, on the other hand, it is 

 thought that the lightning, which would in any case have 

 fallen towards a person, has been attracted by the metal he 

 has worn, so as to leave him uninjured, the contrary view 

 must be adopted. Mr. Brydone considers that a thin chain 

 attached in the manner of a conductor to some metallic 

 article of attire, would serve in this way as an efficient pro- 

 tection. Our own opinion is, that, in general, metallic 

 articles belonging to the attire are not likely to have any 

 noteworthy influence, but that such influence as they do 

 exert is unfavourable to safety. We may agree with Arago, 

 however, th.at " it is hardly worth while to regard the 

 amount of increased danger occasioned by a watch, a buckle, 

 a chain, pieces of money, wires, pins, or other pieces of 

 metal employed in men's or women's apparel." 



Franklin recommends persons who are in houses not pro- 

 tected by lightning-conductors, to avoid the neighbourhood 

 of the fireplace ; for the soot within the chimneys form a good 

 conductor of electricity, and lightning has frequently been 

 known to enter a house by the chimney. He also recom- 

 mends that we should avoid metals, gildings, and mirrors. 

 The safest place, he tells us, is in the middle of a room, 

 unless a chandelier be suspended there. 



His next rule is not a very useful one. He recommends 

 that we should avoid contact with the walls or the floor, and 

 points out how this is to be done. We may place ourselves 

 in a hammock suspended by silken cords ; or, in the not un- 

 likely absence of such a hammock, we should place ourselves 

 on glass or pitch. Failing these, we may adopt the plan of 



placing ourselves on .several mattresses heaped up in the 

 centre of the room. We do not think that such preca\itions 

 as these are likely to be commonly adopted during a thun- 

 derstorm, nor does it seem necessary' or desirable that they 

 should be. We have not even the assurance that they 

 greatly diminish the danger. A stroke of lightning which 

 fell on the barracks of St. Mauiice at Lille, in 1838, pierced 

 the mattresses of two beds through and through. 



That glass is a protection from lightning is an opinion 

 which has been, and perhaps still is, very prevalent ; yet 

 there have been many instances tending to prove the con- 

 trary. In September 1780, Mr. Adair was struck to the 

 ground by lightning, which killed two servants who were 

 standing near him. The glass of the window had not only 

 offered no effective resistance to the lightning, but had been 

 completely pulverised by it, the framework of the window 

 remaining uninjured. Again, in September 1772, lightning 

 pierced through a pane of glass in a window on the ground 

 floor of a house in Pad .la, "making a hole as round as if 

 drilled with an auger." 



It seems to have been established that if a thunderstorm 

 is in progress, a building is in more danger of being struck 

 when many persons are crowded within it, than when few 

 are present. This points to the danger of the course some- 

 times followed by the inmates of a house during a thunder- 

 storm. They appear to think that there is safety in society, 

 and crowd into one or two rooms, that they may try, by 

 conversation and mutual encouragement, to shake ofl'the 

 feeling of danger which oppresses them. They are in reality 

 adding, and that sensibly, to any danger there may be. 

 " There is," says Arago, " a source of danger where large 

 assemblies of men or animals are present, in the ascending 

 currents of vapour caused by the perspiration." Like water, 

 moist air is a good conductor of electricity, and lightning is 

 attracted in the same way — though not, of course, to the 

 same extent, by an ascending column of vapour, as by a 

 regular lightning-conductor. It is on this account, probably, 

 that flocks of sheep are so frequently struck, and so many of 

 them killed by a single stroke. Barns containing grain 

 which has been housed before it is quite dry are more com- 

 monly stiuck by lightning than other buildings, the ascend- 

 ing column of moist air being probably the attracting cause 

 in this case, as in the former. When we are overtaken by 

 a thunderstorm in the open air, precaution is more necessaiy 

 than within a house. It is well to know, especially when 

 no shelter is near, what is the most prudent course to 

 adopt. 



It has been stated that there is danger in running 

 against the wind during a thunderstorm, and that it is better 

 to walk with than against the wind. One should even, it is 

 said, if the wind Ls very high, run with the wind. The 

 rationale of these rules seems to be this : a current of air is 

 produced when we run against the wind, the air on the side 

 turned /ro;« the wind being rai-er than the surrounding air. 

 A man so running "leaves a space behind him in which the 

 air is, comparatively speaking, rarefied, and lightning would 

 be more likely to seek such a space for its track than a 

 region in which the air is more dense." An instance is 

 recorded in which, during a gale, lightning actually left a 

 conductor which passed from the mast of a ship to her wind- 

 ward side, in order to traverse the space of rarefied air on 

 the .ship's larboard side ! But the explanation is more than 

 doubtful, though the fact may be well attested. 



It is quite certain that trees aie very likely to be struck 

 by lightning, and, theiefore, that it is an exceedingly dan- 

 gerous thing to stand under trees in a storm. No considera- 

 tion of shelter should induce any one to adopt so dangerous 

 a course. The danger, in fact, is very much gi-eater when 

 heavy rain is falling, since the tree, loaded with moi-sture, 



