[ 2I 7 ] 
and near which the fpindle refted, was beaten to 
powder, and a hole made through the under part of 
the hone. That this ftone in this condition (hould 
hill fupport the feven courfes above it, which weighed 
four tuns, exclufive of the fpindle, vane, and their 
appertinances ; and that the whole did not fall when 
firuck with the lightning, is in no fmall degree fur- 
prizing. 
From the bottom of the fpindle to the firft courfe 
of hone, where the workmen had ufed iron cramps, 
the diftance was five feet feven inches. Thefe cramps 
were bedded in the hone. Part of the lightning, 
from the bottom of the fpindle through the hole juft 
now mentioned, feized thefe cramps, and threw oft* 
large fcales of ftones at their ends. From thefe there 
were three courfes of ftone, in which there were no 
cramps; thefe fuffered nothing. 
In edifices of this kind, for additional ftrength, the 
builders employ bars of iron, conne&ed together in 
fuch a manner as their exigencies require; and thefe, 
though they have no links, are denominated chains. 
Thefe are fometimes fo adapted to the courfes of 
ftone as not to be vifible, and are perfectly concealed : 
at other times, they are in part vifible, and in part 
concealed. 
The firft metal, that occurred after the cramps 
beioie mentioned, was a concealed chain, one foot 
above the oafe ol the obelifk, and two feet above the 
firft ciofs chain. Here two ftones were burft and 
fhattered.. In the courfie of ftone, where the firft 
cjois chain was infer ted, and the fieveral ftones con- 
i .flea by iron cramps, many of the ftones were 
much fbattered, 
Vol. LIV. Ff At 
