A TALK ABOUT LIGHTNING. 31 
in the soil. When a flash of lightning strikes a bed of sand it penetrates down- 
ward with great force for many feet, partially melting the sand on the way. Deep 
vitrified tubes are thus formed, fragments of which can easily be preserved as 
curiosities. These are known as ‘“‘ fulgurites.”’ 
The mechanical effects produced by lightning are often of the most stupen- 
dous character. In June, 1764, the steeple of St. Bride’s in London was struck 
and damaged. A stone weighing seventy pounds was flung fifty yards, and an 
iron bar two feet long was broken in two, one piece of it beang bent back upon 
itself at an angle of forty-five degrees. When the ship Le Patriote was struck in 
1852, a block of wood weighing about one hundred and sixty pounds was torn out 
from the mast, and flung with its thicker end against a massive plank partition, a 
hundred paces away, so violently as to become firmly imbedded in the obstacle. 
A still more remarkable effect was produced when the ship Desirée was struck in 
Port Antonio harbor, Jamaica, in 1803. The maintopmast was broken in two, 
and the next morning one-half of it was found sticking in the mud on one side of 
the harbor, while the other half lay in a lumber yard upon the opposite shore. 
Again, the ship Rodney was struck by lightning in December, 1838. The top 
gallant and royal masts, fifty-three feet long-and weighing about eight hundred 
pounds, entirely disappeared from the vessel, with the exception of the end of the 
royal mast. ‘The sea was covered with chips and splinters, and the water along- © 
side looked as if it had received all the refuse of a carpenter’s shop. The main- 
mast was bound by twenty-six great iron hoops, and of these thirteen were burst 
asunder and thrown down upon the deck. Each hoop was half an inch thick and 
five inches wide. 
These instances serve not only to illustrate the power of the stroke, but also 
the special liability of ships to receive it. Their long, slender masts, rising amid 
an almost level wate, offer the best possible work for the celestial fires. Indeed, 
a ship has been known to receive seven distinct flashes of lightning in the course 
of a few minutes. But the mechanical injury which a ship receives is not always 
its greatest damage. The electricity is apt to derange the compass, and play 
strange freaks with the chronometer. In consequence of these disturbances many 
a ship has been lost long after the danger seemed quite over. ‘The packet ship 
New York, which was struck twice during a storm in the Gulf Stream in April, 
£827, although it came safely to port, had particularly severe experiences. The 
“waves ran very high, the vessel was surrounded by waterspouts, the rain was 
mingled with hailstones as large as filberts, and the lightning was flashing in all 
dire tions with simultaneous reports. The main discharge, which made the ship 
lurch so violently as to throw down people standing upon deck, fell on a pointed 
iron rod about four feet long, melting a few inches of its point. From this rod 
an iron chain one-fourth of an inch in diameter, a wholly inadequate conductor, 
- descended to the water. This chain was knocked in pieces, and some of its links 
made to burn like a taper; while drops of melted iron fell to the deck setting fire 
‘to the woodwork wherever they touched. When the ship reached Liverpool it 
