"■ *^{?^?>i*'^^f«'r»t*!fPsfi?3^K^ 



1861. 



THE ILLENOIS FAEMER. 



235 



and with the smallest average return per 

 acre, while it is claimed that Egypt has the 

 advantage in soil and climate; hut they al- 

 low the less genial north to beat them in the 

 profits of farming. That fall plowing has 

 much to do in this case we are quite posi- 

 tive. 



-»f 



[From the Country Gen'^1 man and Cu'tivator,] 



Something about Lightning and Protection 

 against its Dangers. 



In the old time the question was asked, in allu- 

 Bion to the importance of man, " Cans't thou fend 

 lightnings, that they mny go and say unto thee, 

 were we are ?" Through long ages, this rebuk- 

 ing query was as unanswerable as when set down 

 in that be*iutilul chapter of a sublime book, the 

 38th of Job. But our fathers were enabled to 

 inscribe upon the n)onun?ental tablet of Franklin, 

 " Uripuit fulmen coeW — " He snatched from the 

 sky its bolt ! " and, in our times, the genius of a 

 Morse has, under Providence, solved the terrible 

 problem propounded to "the most patient of 

 men," and given us to return to the reproving 

 interrogatory, in all its pie*y, an affirmative re- 

 ply. The imaginaiion is feeble to shadow forth, 

 even in dimmest outline, the wonders that shall 

 be disclosed, when m:in, advancing in science, 

 and sounding the depths of that vast sea of 

 knowledge upon whose beaten shore he is now but 

 picking up a few curious pebbles, shall fathom, 

 the mysteries of the occult, explore undiscovered 

 realms of wisdom, and Laru the character, the 

 action and the value of that subtle and potent 

 agent which we call atmospherical electricity. 



Without any c'aim to originality, novelty, or a 

 profound philosophical view, we purpose in this 

 brief, and it may be superficial article, to group 

 together and present in a popular manner, a few 

 of the leading truths, and a few of the interest- 

 ing phenomena of lightning. Scattered and iso- 

 lated fa< ts constitute the greater part of what 

 we know concerning the subject. The scientific 

 world is as yet only in the alphabet of knowledge, 

 at least respecting this agent ; and, therefore, it 

 need not be expected that the unlearned shall 

 poss-^ss anything more advanced. 



Electricity, we assume to be a subtle fluid, fill- 

 ing all interplanetary space. The following 

 seems to be the most satisfactory theory of the 

 thunder storm. The earth is a very perfect con- 

 ductor. The aerial covering which surrounds it 

 is a non-conductor. A cloud consists in the up- 

 ward motion of a mass of moist and heated air, 

 vapor of which is condensed as it ascends into 

 the colder regions, thus forming a high perpen- 

 dicular column of partially conducting material. 

 A thunder cloud is shaped like an hour glass. — 

 The earth is negatively electrified. Its induction 

 is intense, and hence the upperend of the column 

 before mentioned, becomes negatively electrified, 

 and, the natural electrcity of the conductor be- 

 ing drawn down into the lower portion, this be- 

 comes positively electrified. From this portion 

 are drawn, by induction, the explosive discharges 

 to the earth, and so something is said to be 



" struck by lightning " A tall tree, a steeple or 

 an elevated rod, presenting to the passing cloud 

 nearer inductive points, are more apt to receive 

 discharges than objects nearer the surface of the 

 earth; but if an object of less alti ude, being a 

 better conductor, be alongside a tsiller one, being 

 a poorer conductor, the discharges will seek the 

 better conductor as against the taller, and will 

 desert the poorer for the better. As, if a man 

 be standing beneath a lofty tree, the top (partic- 

 ularly if it be paining, wafer being a gotd con- 

 ductor,) will attract the discharge to itself, but 

 the lightning on its passage 'o the earth will for- 

 sake the tree, diverge to the body of the man — 

 the better conductor — and pass through it to the 

 ground. 



The forked appearance and zigzag course of 

 lightning are owing to interrupted conduction, 

 produced by the drops of ^aindi^tributed through 

 the air. 



The smoke and heated air which ascend from 

 the flue of a chimney, being of a conducting ca 

 pacity, increase the liability of a dwelling to dan- 

 ger from the bolt of the thunder cloud. Many 

 years ago a farmer near Greenbush raked and 

 piled together large heaps of brush and rubbish, 

 and set fire to them. It was in the suBmer sea- 

 son. As the piles burned, the columns of flame 

 and smoke ascended above them to a great hight 

 in the sky. The air, rushing in to supply the 

 upward current, assumed a rapid rotary motion, 

 accompanied by a loud roaring noise and dis- 

 charges of lightning of sufiBcient magnitude to 

 frighten the laborers from the field. This phe- 

 nomenon we readily expla n. Yet mark how 

 contrary to our theory is the vulgar practice in 

 Romagna, wh^re immense heaps of straw and 

 other combu tibles are prepared in the fields, and 

 lighted on the appearance of a storm, to disperse 

 it. 



We hear the housewife say, " the morning's 

 milk is sour, it has thundered so to-day." Un- 

 doubtedly a vast weight of testimony goes to 

 prove that lightning has something to do with 

 curdling milk, souring beer, and changing wine. 

 It is supposed by some that the acidity produced 

 is a result of the tremor occasioned by thunder, 

 but by others that it is the efi'ect of tLe nitrous 

 acid gas evolved by the decomposition and recom- 

 position of the atmosphere, and which many 

 maintiin causes the peculiar smell recognized 

 when lightning has struck. 



Barns and stacks, exhaling more or less vapors 

 which add to the conducting power of the air, are 

 for this reason liable to be struck. Flocks of 

 sheep and large numbers of horses or cattle, 

 gathered together, are also much exposed, in 

 consequence of the column of exhalations which 

 rises above them. When a charge of electricity 

 passes through a drove or a number of animals 

 in a line, it is observed that the first and last of 

 all the row, alone sufl'er from its effect, those 

 standing midway often experiencing no injury 

 has whatever. It would seem, too, that this fluid 

 a preUlection for white over other colors, inas- 

 much as cases are recorded in which oxen that 

 were struck had all their white hair singed off, 

 while the red showed no signs of the visitation. 

 The kind of clothing worn by men has been sup- 



