1840.J On Lightning Conductors to Powder Magazines. 303 



shower ; but the rains may sometimes fall in excess, the stream 

 swell to a torrent. As the waters require a given time for 

 the efflux of a certain quantity, the excess inundates the bank, 

 and the house is overwhelmed. The parallel seems to me 

 to be complete, although Mr. Daniell's ingenuity may probably 

 succeed in placing the question in a different, and less intelli- 

 gible light. 



26. With very great respect for Mr. Daniell's acquirements, 

 I cannot help wishing he had the opportunity of increasing his 

 practical knowledge, by observing a tropical storm. Had he 

 seen the whole horizon one dense mass of electric clouds — had 

 he heard crash after crash, a hundred times repeated, like the 

 broadside of a line-of-battle ship — had he seen the lightning 

 strike (as I have) three times within a few seconds, and not a 

 hundred feet from my house — had he been in a storm in which 

 thirty-one persons perished, — he would very probably partici- 

 pate in my idea, that electrical accumulation very commonly 

 surpasses the conveying power of ordinary conductors ; and re- 

 membering that " when discharge begins, all the rest passes 

 by the same course" (see Faraday's note, p. 302) — the conse- 

 quence might be as apparent to his mind as to mine, that the 

 excess must pass to the most adjacent objects, selecting among 

 these the best conducting materials. 



27. These facts appear to me sufficient to warrant my 

 opinion, that there is more danger in giving one conductor to 

 a magazine than in leaving it unprovided altogether. It 

 appears to me, further, as I have already stated, that even from 

 any number of conductors there is another source of danger 

 in what I term the lateral discharge, unless the conductors 

 be placed at a considerable distance from the magazine. 



28. As much controversy has arisen regarding this lateral 

 discharge, I wish to explain clearly the meaning I attach to the 

 term. If this be patiently considered, I think it will be found 

 that it is more about the fitness of words, than the nature of 

 the facts, that the difference of opinion exists. 



