American Agriculturist 
THE FARM PAPER THAT PRINTS THE FARM NEWS 
“Agriculture is the Most Healthful, Most Useful and Most Noble Employment of Man .” — Washington 
Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. 
Established 1842 
Volume 114 
For the Week Ending July 19, 1924 
Number 3 
Why Solomon’s Temple Was Safe 
Some Interesting Facts About Lightning and Lightning Rods 
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citizens of any large city, if there is any little favor by the Royal Society of London, very with lightning rods and insulated with 
virtue in a lightning rod and ninety-nine little general notice was taken of the lightning skill of the laboratory and were not even scorched, 
of them will either think you a fit subject rod and many representatives of religious orders It had been the intention to take the lightning 
for the insane asylum or that you are propounding regarded Franklin as an infidel, because they rods off the little village in the last experiment, 
a huge joke, but they will all answer, “Lightning claimed he interfered with the operations of but it was decided to preserve it for future use. 
Rods—do they use them yet?” what they imagined to be a Divine instrument Blocks of wood were substituted, twelve- and 
The history of the lightning rod reads like the for the punishment of sinners. Because of this eighteen-inch pieces of maple that w ere torn apart 
pages of fiction and we do not know 7 of anything religious prejudice a great many years passed with one resounding crash. Down the center of 
to-day that affords the safety and pro¬ 
tection to life and property, about which, 
the public in general is so little informed. 
Mankind has been thrilled by the flash 
of lightning and awed by the ravages 
of the thunderbolt through all ages. 
Scientists of the early ages did not under¬ 
stand the phenomena of lightning and 
electricity, and no means was known to 
prevent the destruction from this cause. 
Solomon in all his wisdom did not 
understand this great mystery of nature, 
yet Solomon provided the first protection 
from lightning of which we have any 
record. The Temple at Jerusalem was 
never struck by lightning in the course 
of a thousand years, although thunder¬ 
storms burst incessantly over the Holy 
City, creating immense havoc and de¬ 
struction. In this instance, the explana¬ 
tion is simple. It is stated' Axpressly 
in the biblical description of the building 
of the w T orld-famed temple (1 Kings, xl: 
21-22): “Solomon overlaid the house 
within with pure gold and he made a 
partition by the chains of gold before the 
oracle; and he'overlaid it with gold until 
lie had finished the whole house, also the whole 
altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold. 
If the wise king had known of the protection 
against lightning, given by metallic conductors, 
he could not have guarded this magnificent edifice 
better than he did by having the whole house 
overlaid with gold, as stated in the Bible. Accord¬ 
ing to the historian, Josephus, the roof of the 
temple w T as ornamented from end to end with 
sharply pointed and thickly gilded pieces of iron 
in lancet form. This was an exceedingly expensive 
way of protecting this great structure from the 
ravages of lightning, but since the entire building 
cost about $190,000,000, it is probable that a good 
large per cent, of this sum might have been w r ell 
spent in protecting it in the manner stated. 
Franklin the First “Lightning Rod Agent” 
It has only been within the history ot our own 
country that any steps were taken to prevent 
damage from lightning. It remained for Ben¬ 
jamin Franklin, in June, 1752, to discover by his 
famous kite experiment that lightning and elec¬ 
tricity were identical. In the summer of 1753 
lie erected on his house in Philadelphia, the first 
lightning rod. This rod was of iron and extended 
five feet into the ground and had a sharp point 
seven or eight feet above the roof. When Frank¬ 
lin felt that the usefulness of his invention had 
been fully established by experiment and observa¬ 
tion, he began at once to devote a great deal of his 
time to advocating the use of lightning rods as a 
means of protecting buildings against lightning. 
Thus Franklin was the first “ lightning rod agent,” 
Because of the fact that the new invention of 
This visualizes in a graphic manner the discharge of the earth's “ electrical field.” 
It shows graphically the reason for greater electrical intensity on the earth s surface, 
around the tree, along the wire fence and the oil pipe line, than elsewhere and why a 
lightning flash occurs. Cattle are struck dead near a wire fence, while'other cattle 
out in a f eld are not affected. Petroleum tanks adjacent to the pipe line are ignited. 
An unprotected barn is in flames; but the dwelling, properly rodded, is immune. 
before lightning rods were used to any great ex¬ 
tent for the protection of church buildings, al¬ 
though during the same time the ringing of bells 
was recommended by certain of the clergy as a 
means of dispelling thunder-storms and warding 
off lightning strokes. 
It is reported that in France a certain English¬ 
man erected a lightning rod on his residence. A 
great public disturbance arose when this fact 
became generally known and the populace tore 
the rod from the building. The persevering 
Englishman took the case to court and was de¬ 
fended by a young lawyer named Robespierre, 
then very young and unknown to fame. The 
French Court decided that inasmuch as there 
was nothing in the statutes prohibiting the 
attachment of metal rods to buildings, such rods 
might be attached, provided that certain precau¬ 
tions were observed in so doing. 
Many years have elapsed since Franklin's 
“ kite experiment, ” but probably no experiment 
in the field of electrical research has caused the 
widespread interest as that held in Pittsfield, 
Massachusetts, recently by the General Electric 
Company. Over 2,000,000 volts were used in a 
stroke of “man-made” lightning. A miniature 
village was constructed; a country church house 
with its w r hite spire reaching up to invite the first 
destructive bolt; the country store, and homes 
and beautiful trees decorated the streets of this 
model village. The lightning flashed, the thunder 
rolled, and even rain was made to fall, but the 
little village was unscarred. Although the 
jagged flame hit the little church and little house 
again and again, the little church and house stood 
each ran a long indented mark w 7 here the 
current had torn its way through. In 
most cases the w r ood was not burned at 
all. The test completely vindicated the 
virtue and efficiency of the lightning rod. 
The tests at the General Electric Com¬ 
pany’s plant at Pittsfield were made in 
a huge brick room, completely lined with 
steel. The spectators stood on a steel 
platform, halfway between the floor and 
ceiling. All openings were closed by 
movable steel shutters. This was done, 
it w r as explained, to safeguard the plant 
and persons outside the room. 
It is no longer a question as. to whether 
lightning rods protect, but wdiat capacity 
should a lightning rod have and what are 
the most important rules to observe in 
installing the material to give the best 
protection. 
There are some points upon which all 
scientists agree and these are that all 
high points, such as chimneys and the 
ridge of the roof, ventilators and cupolas, 
should be supplied with air terminals, 
and all connected in one complete circuit. 
Another and possibly the most important 
feature is to have this circuit w 7 ell grounded. 
There is no part of a system of lightning rods 
more important than the groundings. There 
should be at least two groundings to even the 
smallest building and many ordinary residences 
and barns require three. These groundings should 
extend to permanent moist earth; not less than 
eight to ten feet deep. If it is impossible to get 
this depth, then it is necessary to dig a trench as 
deep as possible, three or more feet, and out from 
track at both ends. 
the building ten to fifteen feet. Dr. Steinmetz 
says, “the best grounding is an iron gas pipe set 
in the ground as deep as possible, and in addition 
a connection to the water pipes, if there are any 
available. A copper plate may be used, but is 
(Continued on yaye 39) 
