July 13, 1888.1 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



29 



EXTRAORDINARY ESCAPE FROM 

 LIGHTNING. 



IN a letter to the Scientific American, Mr. J. B. de Motte, 

 of De Pauw University, Greencastle, Ind., describes 

 an extraordinary escape from lightning. He writes : 



The narrowest escape from death by lightning of which 

 I have ever heard came to my knowledge while 

 lecturing a few weeks ago at the Florida Chau- 

 tanqua. The drug store, which is used as a post-office 

 by the good people of De Funiak, stands between the 

 railroad station and their beautiful little lake. At the 

 time to which I refer it was " protected " by a common- 

 sized-twisted copper-band lightning rod, with; iron core, 



between the corner post of the porch and the nearest 

 window. 



The lightning struck the two high pines, and after 

 shattering their tops, leaped to the rod, completely melt- 

 ing its points, and then ran along the comb of the 

 roof to the gable and down a corner. Mr. Chisholm's 

 only recollection of the stroke is a sensation like that of 

 a heavy blast of hot air striking him between the 

 shoulders. He was thrown forward upon his face, and 

 taken up for dead. His shoes were new and his trousers 

 nearly so, yet they were left looking very much as if they 

 had been attacked by an army of hungry rats. The 

 engravings, which are made from photographs which I 

 had taken for the purpose, give a fairly good idea of 



Mr. Chisholm's New Gaiters and Clothing after the Stroke. 



fastened to the house by glass insulators in the old- 

 fashioned way. Several houses in the town were 

 " rodded " in the same way, but after this one was so 

 badly shattered they were torn off by their owners, 

 " to lessen their chances of getting struck, you know," 

 they explained. About a hundred feet back of the post- 

 office stood two fine specimens of the tall pines which 

 grow so abundantly in that region. 



On the afternoon of the 18th of last August, at about 

 one o'clock, a number of boys and men had colleated under 

 the post-office porch, thinking, on account of the lightning 

 rod, that they would be safe from the lightning, which 

 was playing rather freely from an only partially cloud- 

 covered sky. Among them was John Chisholm, a 

 merchant of De Funiak, who was sitting about halfway 



their condition. How a man could have his clothes 

 chewed off from him by lightning in that style and still 

 live, is a mystery. His shirt was torn entirely in two. 

 His body was badly blistered, especially from the knees 

 down. Becoming conscious, he experienced a terrible 

 feeling of suffocation and " heartache, as though it would 

 burst." He remained helpless for four months, suffering 

 terribly from aching in the bones and a stinging sensation, 

 " as though a thousand needles were being stuck all 

 over my body." 



Now, after a lapse of over nine months, Mr. Chisholm 

 has gradually recovered the use of his limbs, only suffer- 

 ing from an occasional violent involuntary jerk in the 

 back. He attends to business, and has recovered much 

 of his former sociability. 



