August 1, 1889.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



197 



\^ AN ILLUSTRATED ""^^ 



MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE 



SIMPLY WORDED — EXACTLY DESCRIBED 



LONDON: AUGUST 1, 1889. 



CONTENTS. 



Mortality ami Accidents from Li;?litnin^. By W. MaiTictt 



On tlie Disruptive Effects of Lightning, and on Dark Flashes. By 



A. C. Ranyard 



The Common Cockroach. By E. A. Butler 



The Production of Sugar. By Wanl Coldridge,B.A 



Earth-Worms.— ir By E. Mansel Sympson, M.A., M.B. Cantab 



Our Microscopic Foes. Our Defences. By A. Winkelried Williams 



The Great Nebula in Andromeda, 31 Meisier. By A. C. Ranyard 



Emigration. By Alex. E. MacDowall, M. A 



Growth and Decay of Mind. By the late R. A. Proctor 



A Useful Cement 



Letters: — Sir G. G. Stokes, Arthur W. Clayden, Isaac Roberts, Francis Heron 



Some Properties of Numbers. By Robert W. D. Christie, M.A 



The Face of the Sky for August. By Herbert Sadler, F.R.A.S 



Whist Column, By W. Montagu Gattie 



Chesa Column. By I. Gunsberg 



MORTALITY AND ACCIDENTS 

 LIGHTNING. 



FROM 



By W. Marriott, Seo-elary of the Royal Meteorological 

 Society. 



HERE seems to be an undue dread of the 

 danger of lightning. Many people are 

 during a thunderstorm seized with a sense 

 of terror which upsets their nervous system, 

 and brings on headache and other physical 

 ills that are usually referred to the electrical 

 condition of the atmosphere, instead of to 

 mental condition. When we come, however, 



tlicir 



carefully to inquh-e into the number of deaths caused by 

 lightning, it is a matter of surprise and comfort that the 

 mortality is so .small. 



In a paper recently communicated to the Royal Meteoro- 

 logical Society by Inspector-General Lawson, it was shown 

 that the total number of deaths caused by lightning in 

 England and Wales during the twenty-nine years — 1852 to 

 1 880 — as recorded in the returns of the Registrar-General, 

 was 5 tCi, the yearly average being 1 9. The average annual 

 rate in a million peni^ons is 0879. Thunderstorms are more 

 freijuent and violent in some years than in otlicrs, and con- 

 sequently the numbers of deatlis bj- lightning fluctuate 

 considerably. For instance, there were only 3 deaths in 

 1863, and 6 in 18G t, while there were 45 in 1852 and 46 in 

 1872. 



In other countries the number of persons killed by 

 lightning is much greater than in England. Colonel 

 Parnel], in his book, "The Action of Lightning," gives 

 accounts of accidents in various parts of the world, from 

 which wo may form an approximate idea of the rol.ative 

 proportion of deaths in some of the I'iUropoan countries. 

 Thus, in liussia (not including Poland and Finland) there 

 wore 2,270 persons killed by lightning in the five years. 



1870-74, the yearly average being 454, or 5'22 per million ; 

 in Prussia there were 1,004 persons killed in the nine years 

 1869-77, the yearly average being 112, or 4'15 per million; 

 in France there were 1,308 persons killed in the eighteen 

 years, 1835 52, the yearly average being 73, or 1-93 per 

 million; in Switzerland there were 33 persons killed in the 

 two years, 1876-77, the yearly average being 17, or 592 

 per million; and in Sweden there were G64 persons killed 

 during the sixty-two years, 1816-77, the yearly average 

 being 11, or 2'37 per million. 



The mortality from lightning is much greater among the 

 inhabitants of rural districts than those of towns. There 

 can be no doubt that the lightning conductors attached to 

 churches, itc, as well as the various large buildings, serve 

 to silently diffuse the eletdricity, and so deaths from light- 

 ning .stro kes are rarer in towns than in the open country. 

 The recently-erected Eitlel Tower is reported to have a very 

 modifying effect on a thunderstorm, as it forms a perfect 

 lightning conductor. On one occasion, when a very black 

 thundercloud, from which lightning was being emitted, 

 passed over Paris, the lightning ceased as soon as it came 

 within the influence of the Tower, whilst it appeared again 

 when the cloud passed onwards. 



The returns of the Regiitrar-General show that the 

 mortality from lightning is greater amongst men than 

 amongst women, the deaths of males being 81 per cent, and 

 of females only 19 per cent. This great excess of deaths of 

 males is no doubt due to the fact that men are more engaged 

 in field labour and outdoor occupations, and are con- 

 sequently more exposed to the dangers of thunderstorms 

 than women. The greatest number of deaths among males 

 occurs between the ages of 15 and 25. 



The effect of lightning is not always the same ; some 

 persons are killed instantaneously and their bodies marked 

 in a curious manner, others are rendered unconscious, and 

 perhaps lose the use of their limbs or f\iculties for a time or 

 permanently. Frequently when persons are struck their 

 clothes are completely stripped off their bodies and hurled a 

 considerable distance away. At the Royal Meteorological 

 Society's Exhibition in March 1888 the clotties of a man 

 who had been struck by lightning were exhibited ; these 

 had been blown off his Iwdy, and were almost in ribbons. 

 His boots were burst out, and his watch jiartly fused. The 

 man was not killed, but recovered after being in tJie 

 hospital for some weeks. 



On June 14, 1888, a slight thunderstorm passed over the 

 north of Loudon, when two men were struck by lightning 

 at the Spaniard's Farm, Hampstead Heath. They were 

 eating their dinner under a tree when the occurrence took 

 place. One of them was rendered quite senseless, and 

 appeared as though he were dead. The other heard a 

 tremendous thunderclap, and was quite stunned for some 

 minutes, but felt no pain. He then found that his trousers 

 were smouldering, that his knife had been knocked out of 

 his hand, and that his steel buckles had been torn off his 

 legs. Ho succeeded in quenching the fire in his trousers, 

 and managed to crawl to the road, shouting for assistance. 

 After a time they were both conveyed to the infirmary. 

 Their features were ghastly blue, with a dull yellowish 

 white showing through the leaden colour. The elder one 

 was almost pulseless, but after a time became slightly 

 conscious. He had burns on his right side from the 

 shoulder to the feet. Photograpli 1 shows the appearance of 

 the scars and markings on his arms and back a month after 

 the accident. 1 had an o[iportunity of examining and photo- 

 graphing the clothes worn by these men. These are shown 

 in Photogniph 2. 



An interesting case of the disruptive force of lightning is 

 exhibited in Photograph 6, which is a reproduction of a photo- 



