[ 4J3 ] 
great judgement and accuracy, colie&ed from 
ancient hiftory, the accounts therein recited, of 
electrical appearances, upon pointed bodies ; as 
the fpears of loldiers, &c. &c. which have 
been very judicioufly introduced by Dr. priest- 
ley into his Hiftory of Electricity : and I 
Gannot but think, thofe accounts, furnifh a very 
ftrong argument, in favour of pointed conductors : 
for had the bodies here fpoken of been terminated 
by blunted ends, or round knobs, it is probable 
that many of them inftead of drawing off the light- 
nin gfdently, would have been Jlruck with it; and 
this, being deemed a common occurrence, would 
have pafted unnoticed, and confequently never 
have been recorded in hiftory. 
If pointed bodies had really the property of 
drawing down ftrokes of lightning upon themfelves, 
I think the pillar upon Fifh-ftreet Hill, commonly 
called the monument, could not long have 
efcaped. This pillar is terminated by a bafin of 
metal, four feet and fix inches in diameter. The 
bafin is furrounded by a great number of 
bended plates of metal, par ply pointed, to reprelen t 
flames cff Are. From the balm, to the floor of the 
gallery, are fixed perpendicularly in a circular or- 
der four thick bars of iron; and in thofe bars are 
inferted twenty-eight ftrong hoops, and four feg- 
ments of circles, of the fame metal ; which ferve. 
as fteps from the gallery to the bafin. One of 
thefe bars (being one inch thick, and five inches, 
broad) is connected with the iron rails of the 
(k) See Philofophical TranfaCtions, vol. 48, part I. p. 210. 
(/) See Hiftcry and Prefent State of Electricity, fecond edi- 
tion, p. 371. 
• ftair-cafe. 
