20 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
[If our correspondent has had “his money’s worth out of us,” we 
will take the liberty of getting it back by publishing his letter : his 
satire will amuse, it it does not indirectly help to benefit that class 
of farmers of which he professes to be an example.]— Ed. Farmers' 
Register. 
Young Men’s Department. 
ON THE UTILITY OF KNOWLEDGE IN PREVENTING DISEASES AND FATAL 
ACCIDENTS. 
The first class of accidents to which I shall advert, comprises 
those which have happened from ignorance of the nature and proper¬ 
ties of the different gases, and of the noxious effects which some ol 
them produce on the functions of animal life. 
We have frequently read in newspapers and magazines, and some 
of us have witnessed such accidents as the following :—A man de¬ 
scends into a deep well, which has for some time been shut up. 
When he has gone down a considerable way, he suddenly lets go Ins 
hold of the rope or laduer by which he descends, and drops to the 
bottom in a state of insensibility, devoid of utterance, and unable to 
point out the cause of his disaster. Another hastily follows him, to 
ascertain the cause, and to afford him assistance ; but by the time 
he arrives at the same depth, he shares the same fate. A tliiid per¬ 
son, after some hesitation, descends with more cautious steps. But 
he soon begins to feel a ceitain degree of giddiness, and makes haste 
to ascend, or is drawn up by assistants. In the mean time, the un¬ 
happy persons at the bottom of the well are frequently lelt to remain 
so long in a state of suspended animation, that all means of restora¬ 
tion prove abortive ; and the cause of the disaster remains a my ste- 
ry, till some medical gentlemen, or other person of intelligence, be 
made acquainted with the circumstances of the accident. Similar 
accidents, owing to the same cause 1 , have happened to persons who 
have incautiously descended into brewers’ vats, or who have enter¬ 
ed precipitately into wine cellars, and vaults which had been long 
shut up from the external air, and where the process of fermentation 
was going on : they have been suddenly struck down, as by a flash 
of lightning; and, in some instances, the vital spark has been com¬ 
pletely extinguished. Many instances, too, could be produced, of 
workmen who have incautiously laid themselves down to sleep in the 
neighborhood of lime-kilns where they were employed, having, in a 
short time, slept the sleep of death. The burning of charcoal in close 
apartments has also proved fatal to many; more especially when 
they have retired to rest in such apartments, while the charcoal was 
burning, and before the rooms had received a thorough ventilation. 
Numerous are the instances in which accidents have happened, 
in the circumstances now stated, and which are still frequently re¬ 
curring: all which might have been prevented, had the following 
facts been generally known and attended to:—That there exists a 
certain species of air, termed fixed air, or carbonic acid gas, which 
instantly extinguishes flame, and is destructive to animal life; that 
it is found in considerable quantities in places which have been shut 
up from the external atmosphere—as in old wells, pits, caverns and 
close vaults ; that it is copiously produced during the fermentation 
of liquors in brewers’ vats, where it hovers above the surface of the 
liquor; in cellars where wine and malt liquors are kept; and by the 
burning of lime and charcoal; and that, being nearly twice as heavy 
as common air, it sinks to the bottom of the place where it is pro¬ 
duced. The following plain hints are therefore all that is requisite 
to be attended to, in order to prevent the recurrence of such disas¬ 
ters. Previous to entering a well or pit which has been long seclud¬ 
ed from the external air, let a lighted candle or taper be sent down; 
if it continues to burn at the bottom there is no danger, for air that 
will support flame, without an explosion, will also support animal 
life; but, should the taper be extinguished before it reaches the bot¬ 
tom, it would be attended with imminent danger, to venture down, 
till the foul air be expelled. The noxious air may be destroyed by 
throwing down a quantity of quick-lime, and gradually springing it 
with water; for as the lime slakes, it will absorb the mephitic air, 
and a person may afterwards descend in safety. Where lime is not 
at hand, a bush, or such like bulky substance, may be let down and 
drawn up several times; or some buckets of water may be thrown 
into it, till the air be so purified that a lighted taper will continue to 
burn at the bottom. These precautionary hints will apply to all the 
other gases referred to, where this species of gas may happen to ex¬ 
ist. To which I may also add, as another hint, that in every situa¬ 
tion where fixed air is supposed to exist, it is more dangerous to sit 
or to lie down in such places, than to stand erect; tor as this gas is 
the heaviest of all the gases, it occupies the lowest, place ; and there¬ 
fore, a person lying on the ground may be suffocated by it, while an¬ 
other, standing at his side, would feel no injury, his mouth being 
raised above the stratum of the noxious fluid. 1 shall only remark 
further oa this head, that several disorders have been con'racted by 
persons sleeping under the branches of trees in the night-time, and 
in apartments where great quantities of fruits, or oihtr vegetable 
matters, are kept—from ignorance of the fact, that during ihe night 
the leaves of trees, and all vegetable matters, perspire a deleterious 
air, which, when it has accumulated to a certain degree, may in¬ 
duce a variety of serious complaints, and sometimes prove fatal. 
The injuries which are produced by the stroke of Lightning, form an¬ 
other class of accidents which are frequently owing to ignorance. Such 
accidents are more numerous and fatal, even in our temperate cli¬ 
mate, than is generally imagined. From an induct ion of a variety 
of facts of this kmd, as stated in the public papers and other periodi¬ 
cal works, in the year 1811, the author ascertained that more than 
twenty persons were killed by lightning, during the summer months 
of that year, or at the rate of a thousand persons every fifty years, 
within the limbs of our island ; besides the violent shocks experi¬ 
enced by others, which did not immediately prove fatal, and the da¬ 
mage occasioned to sheep and cattle, and to public and private edi¬ 
fices; and it is worthy of notice, that must of the individuals who 
were killed by the lightning, had either taken shelter under trees, or 
were in situations adjacent to bells or bell-wires. The experience 
of succeeding years proves that a similar number of disasters of this 
kind annually take place. It is, however, more than probable, that 
at least, half the number of accidents arising from the same cause 
might have been averted, had the nature of lightning, and the laws 
which regulate its movements, been generally known. Seldom a 
year passes, but we are informed by the public prints of some person 
or other having been killed by lightning, when taking shelter under 
a large tree—of whole families having been struck down when 
crowding around a firep'ace, during a thunder-storm—of one person 
having been struck when i tanding beside a bell-wire, and another 
while standing under a bell connected with the wire, or under a 
lustre hanging Irom the ceiling. 
There can be little doubt, that a considerable number of such ac¬ 
cidents would have been prevented had the following facts respect- 
in? the nature of lightning been extensively known :—That light¬ 
ning is a fluid of the same nature, and is directed in its motions by 
the same laws which regulate the motions of the electric fluid in our 
common electrical machines; that it is attracted and conducted by 
trees, water, moisture, flame and all kinds of metallic substances; 
that it is most disposed to strike high and pointed objects ; and that, 
therefore, it must be dangerous to remain connected with or in the 
immediate neighborhood of such objects when a thunder-cloud is 
passing near the earth. 
Hence the following precautionary maxims have been deduced, 
by attending to which the personal accidents arising from thunder¬ 
storms might be, in a great measure, prevented. In the open air 
during a storm, rivers, pools and every mass of water, even the 
streamlets arising from a recent shower, should be avoided ; be¬ 
cause water, being an excellent conductor, might determine the 
course of an electrical discharge towards a person in contact with 
it, or in its immediate neighborhood. All high trees and similar 
elevated conductors should also be avoided, as they are in more dan¬ 
ger, of being struck than objects on the ground; and, therefore, a 
person in contact with them exposes himself to imminent danger, 
should the course of the lightning lie in that direction. But, to take 
our station at the distance of thirty or forty paces from such objects, 
or at such a distance as may prevent us from being injured by the 
splinters of wood, should the tree be struck, is more secure than 
even in the midst of an open plain. Persons in a house not provid¬ 
ed with thunder-rods, should avoid sitting near a chimney or fire¬ 
place, whether there be a fire in the grate or not. For when there 
is a fire in the grate, the flue contains the following conductors— 
flame, smoke, ratified air and snot. Even when there is no fire, the 
soot with which the flue is lined is a conductor; and from the supe¬ 
rior height of the chimney-shaft above every other part of the build¬ 
ing, it is more liable than any other part of the house to be struck with 
lightning. In a house, too, gilt mirrors or picture frames, lustres or 
burning candles, bell-wires, and all metallic substances, should be 
carefully avoided, as they afford so many points of attraction, which 
might determine the course of an electric discharge. The safest 
