Wet or damp clothes, good conductors of lightning. 1 23 



ther this tree nor any of the others were affected. It ought 

 however to be mentioned that there is an iron bolt, six inch- 

 es long, in the top of the post near the door of the house, 

 and perhaps this attracted the fluid. 



Query, Are not Lombardy poplars worse conductors of 

 lightning than other timber, and therefore less valuable near 

 dwellings .'' 



Mr. W.'s house stands nearly at the foot on the west side 

 of a steep rocky hill of mica slate, two or three hundred 

 feet high. I would make the enquiry, whether, in this part 

 of our country, (as most of our thunderstorms pass from 

 west to east,) the western side of mountains is not more fre- 

 quently struck with lightning than the eastern.'^ For, before 

 the clouds reach the eastern side of hills, are they not usual- 

 ly in a good measure discharged ? 



A person examining Mr. Williams' clothes, which were mu- 

 tilated in the manner described above, and which are still 

 carefully preserved, would not suppose it possible for him 

 to have escaped with his life. I feel satisfied that he owes 

 his life to the circumstance that his garments were slightly 

 wet. To support this opinion, I make the following ex- 

 tracts from Dr. Franklin's letters to P. CoUinson Esq. 

 Third London edhion, pa. 36 and 47. 



"Electrical fire loves water, is strongly attracted by it, 

 and they can subsist together." 



" It is safer to be in the open field (during a thunder storm) 

 for another reason. When the clothes are wet, if a flash in 

 its way to the ground should strike your head, it will run in 

 the water over the surface of your body ; whereas if your 

 clothes were dry, it would go through the body." 



"Hence a wet rat cannot be killed by the exploding elec- 

 trical bottle, when a dry rat may." 



These facts, at first view, appear conclusive on this 

 point. I am aware however, that Mr. W's clothes were all 

 non-conductors, and "that the fluids of the human body are 

 better conductors of electricity than water." (Rees Cyclo- 

 ped. Art. Electrical.) It does not appear, however, from 

 the experiment of Rees referred to, that animal fluids, while 

 they remain in the system, are better conductors than water. 

 But I will not enlarge — If the opinion I have advanced be 

 not tenable, let it be abandoned : for the truth on this sub- 

 ject may be of some consequence. Remarks by the Editor 

 of the Journal would ha very acceptable. 



