104 Prevention of Accidents fr07n Lightning. [Ju^iTE, 



Paid Mrs. Piddington 100 Es. a month from 



May 1870 to date of decease in Sept. 1875, 6,500 



„ for funeral expenses, &c., 192 5 6 



„ for cost of a Monument, 537 8 



7,229 13 6 



Balance, Es. 5,745 10 



H. W. I. WOOD, 



Secretary. 



The Seceetaet said that the money had been deposited in the Bank 

 of Bengal and that Subscribers to the Fund could receive on application a 

 refund of half their contributions. A list of the subscribers would be 

 found on the fly leaf of the Proceedings for May 1870. 



Mr. H. F. Blaistoed said that as a subscriber to the " Piddington 

 Fund", he would propose for the consideration of other subscribers, that the 

 residue of the Fund now in the hands of the Society should be made the 

 nucleus of a permanent fund for pensioning old and deserving servants of 

 the Society. 



Mr. V. Ball seconded the proposal. 



The CBA.IEMAN having put Mr. Blanford's proposal before the meet- 

 ing, it was agreed that it should be referred to the subscribers for considera- 

 tion. 



The Seceetaet laid before the Meeting a copy of a pamphlet by Mr. 

 W. C. McGregor entitled " Protection of Life and Proj)erty from Lightning 

 during Thunderstorms," and stated that Mr. McGregor, had very kindly 

 offered to send 100 copies for distribution among members. The Secretary 

 also read some extracts from a short paper by Mr. McGregor, on the same 

 subject of which the following is an abstract : 



On tJie Prevention of Accidents hy Liglitning. 

 The author commences by stating that although a century and a quar- 

 ter has elapsed since Franklin proved by his kite experiment the similarity 

 between atmospheric and frictional electricity, and showed that protection 

 to life and property could be secured by artificial means, we still read 

 announcements of churches and other public buildings, both in England 

 and this country, being struck and iujui-ed by lightning, and two recent 

 accidents of this kind are instanced, in one of which the steeple of the vil- 

 lage church of Snettisham, near Sandringham, was destroyed, happily 

 without loss of life ; and in the other, the Himalaya Hotel, Masuri, was 

 struck, two natives being killed on the spot by the electric fluid in its pas- 



