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through the air for a distance of 16 feet to a gas meter in 
the cellar of an adjoining cotton warehouse, where it fused 
the lead pipe connections and ignited the gas. That the 
discharge had really passed between the end of the wire 
rope and the lead pipe connections, was abundantly evident 
from the marks made on the chimney by the fusion and 
volatilization of the end of the wire rope, and by the fusion 
of the lead pipe. As the accident occurred in the daytime, 
the fire was soon detected, and promptly extinguished. 
Another and equally instructive instance of the inductive 
influence of gas pipes in determining the direction of the 
lightning discharge occurred in the summer of 1863 at St. 
Paul’s Church, Kersal Moor, during divine service. To the 
outside of the spire and tower of this church a copper light- 
ning conductor was fixed, the lower extremity of which was 
extended under the soil for a distance of about 20 feet. 
The lightning descended this conductor, but instead of 
passing into the earth by the path provided for it, struck 
through the side of the tower to a small gas pipe fixed to 
the inner wall. The point at which the lightning left the 
conductor was about 5 feet above the level of the ground, 
and the thickness of the wall pierced was about 4 feet; but 
beyond the fracture of one of the outer stones of the wall, 
and the shattering of the plaster near the gas pipe, the 
building sustained no injury. 
That the direction of the electric discharge had, in this 
case, been determined by the gas pipes which passed under 
the floor of the church, was evident from the fact that the 
watches of several members of the congregation who were 
seated in the vicinity of the gas mains, were so strongly 
magnetized as to be rendered unserviceable. 
