86 Sas ee ke, 
-XI.__EFFECTS 
48 2 ‘ : y x 
OF LICHTNINCG ON THE HOUSE OF CAPT. DANIEL MERRY, AND 
SEVERAL OTHER HOUSES IN THE VICINITY, ON THE 
EVENING OF THE llth or May, 1805 ; 
Ina letter to the Hon. John Davis, Esq. Recording Secretary op the ied 
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 
By JOHN LATHROP, pv. p. Fa. 4. 
= 
a 2 
THE wind had been fresh at the southward and west the great: 
est part of the day, but the rain was not copious until the evening. 
Between s six and seven 0 clock, the clouds were thick and the thunder — a 
frequent ; Ent there were no uncommonly heavy discharges, until a-c8 
little after seven. About a quarter after seven, there were two very - 
heavy claps, the latter but a few seconds after the former. The ae 
latter of the two claps now mentioned was so powerful, that many 
people, at a distance from the place of explosion, felt the shock, and eo 
supposed at the instant they were struck. ee 
Some of the effects of this explosion are now to be related. eee 
On the northeast side of the chimney of Capt. Daniel Merge 
house, which is in ship street, a little distance from Hancock’s wharf, 
there is a int beginning where the chiang appears above the 3 
roof, and extending above two feet upw: d alme Sarit as the 4 
poe! leaving: the top Stee The ae ‘Paiche mes near the 
ey, the plate, and the summer, are shivered to. pieces ; the — : 
wae ma shingles of the roof appearing to be burst upwards. The 2 
expansion of air in the upper chamber, where the charge appears Ai 
have entered, was such as to burst out almost all the glass windows 
and several of the sashes were broken. Whether the charge came in; 
