C 95 ] 
Mr. Weft further informed me, that a perfon of un- 
doubted veracity allured him, that, being in the door 
of an oppofite houfe on the other fide of Water-Street 
(which you know is but narrow) he faw the lightning 
diffufed over the pavement, which was then very wet 
with rain, to the diftance of two or three yards from 
the foot of the condu&or. And that another perfon 
of very good credit told him, that he, being a few 
doors off, on the other fide of the ftreet, faw the 
lightning above, darting in fuch direction, that it ap- 
peared to him to be directly over that pointed 
rod. 
Upon receiving this information, and being defirous 
of further latisfadfion, there being no traces of the 
lightning to be difeovered in the condu&or, as far as 
we could examine it below, 1 propofed to Mr. Weft 
our going to the top of the houfe to examine the 
pointed rod; alluring him, that, if the lightning had 
palTed thro’ it, the point muft have been melted ; and, 
to our great fatisfaClion, we found it fo. This iron 
rod extended in height about nine feet and a half 
above a ftack of chimnies, to which it was fixed ; (but 
I fuppofe, three or four feet would have been luffici- 
ent). It was fomewhat more than half an inch dia- 
meter, in the thickeft part, and tapering to the upper 
end. The conductor, from the lower end of it to the 
earth, confifted of fquare iron nail rods, not much 
above a quarter of an inch thick, connected together 
by interlinking joints. It extended down the cedar 
roof to the eaves, and from thence down the wall of 
the houfe, four ftory and a half, to the pavement in 
Water-Street ; being faftened to the wall, in feveral 
places, by fmall iron hooks. The lower end was 
fixed. 
