114 MEMOIR OF ALFRED SMEE. [CHAP. X. 



were discontinued, as the mercury had returned to nearly its former 

 position. The mercury in the large tube in the barometer of the Bank 

 of England was at noon in a state of visible motion from the rapidity of 

 the variation of the atmospheric pressure. It is important to call the 

 particular attention of our mariners to the occurrence of great gales, with 

 rapid changes in barometric pressure ; and he who can invent a cheap, 

 delicate, and practical instrument for the use of our fishermen and seamen, 

 to enable them to prognosticate a coming storm, will be the greatest 

 philanthropist of the age, by tending to the protection of life from the 

 perils of the winds and waves. 



On July 25th, 1872, a letter was written to the ' Times ' on 

 the incident of Brixton Church having heen struck by lightning 

 in the storm. 



The intensity and violence of the storms throughout Europe this 

 summer naturally attract general attention. On Thursday, July 11, so 

 frequent were the electrical discharges that I counted in one hour 394 

 flashes of lightning. The storm over London on Tuesday was severe, but 

 singularly enough at Carshalton, although the roars of the peals of thunder 

 came from every side, and the repeated flashes of lightning were dazzling 

 and terrific, scarcely a drop of rain fell. Between Carshalton and London 

 the full force of the storm was experienced, and the steeple of Brixton 

 Church was struck by lightning. I was curious to examine the injury, 

 and to trace the course of the electric force. I found the steeple was 

 built of stone, and had a stone ornament at the summit, with a stone 

 cross. All this was supported by stone columns, and there was no good 

 electric conductor between the stone cross and the earth. The electrical 

 discharge shivered the stone ornament, breaking it into fragments, which 

 were dispersed in all directions. Some fell upon the roof of the church, 

 breaking the slates and even the rafters, but many of the pieces of broken 

 stone were thrown to the churchyard beneath. In this particular instance 

 the electrical discharge did not appear to have passed between the clouds 

 and the earth by any water-pipe, gas-pipe, or other electric conductor 

 connected with the part of the steeple struck, but probably was carried by 

 the down-pouring rain, which is itself an efficient conductor of electricity. 

 I remember this steeple to have been struck by lightning about thirty years 

 ago, and this second injury indicates that even a stone steeple in an 

 exposed situation is not safe without an efficient metallic lightning- 

 conductor. 



These letters on storms show the great interest which Mr. 

 Smee evinced in such phenomena. Indeed it was seldom that he 

 heard of a building or tree in the metropolis or its vicinity being 

 "struck by lightning, but he would hasten to the scene to take 

 observations on the occurrence. 



' My Garden ' was the next published work from Alfred Smee's 

 pen. It was written in every spare moment as a solace to his 

 mind. The work, now so well known, details the geology of the 



