The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-08-17 00:00:00

CASE OF LIGHTNING-STROKE.

The Lanset of last Saturday publishes the following :
Sir,—On the afternoon of July 14th, after a very
severe storm of thunder and lightning, I was called to
see J. A—, who was said to have been struck by the
electric fluid. When I Haw him he had been removed
home in a cart, and his history and condition were as
follows :—He had been attending some sheep in the
fields, and when the storm was at its height had taken
refuge from it under an elm tree. Very soon after he
felt something strike him behind the left shoulder,
seemed to lose the use of his legs, and fell to the ground.
On my arrival at his home, I found him quite
sensible, but rather excited in manner; and complain-
ing principally of numbness in his legs, and a sense of
soreness over his shoulders and back generally. He
was able to stand, though he had taken himself to bed.
On stripping him, I found a very curious condition of
affairs on his back. From the spine of the left
scapula (where he felt the blow that knocked him
down) extending downwards and outwards, and cross-
ing the vertehrre about the middle of the dorsal region,
extending over the right buttock, was a central stem,
from which proceeded various branches, as of a
tree. These consisted of a raised, cedematous
condition of the skin of a bright scarlet colour, not
quite elisappearing on firm pressure; the central stem
being about the breadth of three quarters of an inch,
and the various branches gradually thinning off to
something like the scratch of a pin at their terminals.
The general appearance was that of a fern, with the
exception that, instead of being one frond, as in the
male fern, they were about from six to eight given off
fram the central twig. Besides this, there was a dis-
tinct impression, over each iliac region, of as it were
a single frond, each complete in itself. The whole was
most beautiful and regular, just as if one had made
the impression of some plant on the man's back. The
man also happened to wear outside his trousers two
small belts, with iron buckles, and on the correspond-
ing part of his legs were two distinct reddened circles,
with the additien on the right leg, over where the
buckle had been, of a small laceration of the flesh,
which had bled rather profusely for its size.
There was nothing in the man's clothing to account
for the erratic impression left by the electric fluid. In
about three days afterwards the whole affair had
nearly disappeared. The terminal branches faded
first, hut on the third day part of the central stete,
and especially towards the left scapula, was still
raised, and of a bright-red colour. Altogether it
seemed more like a burnt surface in appearance than
anything else, only the skin was nowhere broken, and
I do not think it will leave any appreciable mark.—l
am, Sir, yours, &c., GEO. WAUGH, M.B.
King's Sutton, Oxon, July SO, 1878.

A MISAPPLIED REGULATION.
Among the regulations of the Post Office Savings
Bank there is one which pres6ribes that a person may
not deposit more than £3O in any one year. The
object of this rule was to prevent any cause of com-
plaint on the part of private banks which have a
natural interest in wi,hing to take charge of sub-
stantial balances. The Post Office Bank was
intended for the use of those who do not employ
private bankers, and every care was accordingly
taken to prevent the two systems from clashing. But
we learn that a very curious interpretation has been
placed on the above regulation by the department.
At the beginning of last spring, a person deposited
£3O at oLe of the metropolitan postal banks. Some
osrdihnegl
months afterwards, the depositor had temporary occa-
sion Y withdrew that sum.
Within
wished to replace it in
the bank, but was informed that could not be
for
a 2flln and
a o ccr
o
allowed because he had already deposited £3O within
the year, although only two-thirds of the amount
then remained to his credit. Now, had £2O only
been deposited in the spring, the other £lO might
have been handed in at any time during the year.
The effect of the regulation thus interpreted would
consequently be to influence people to keep back a por-
tion of their savings whenever these chanced to amount
to £3O. And it is very certain that with a large num-
ber of persons to keep superfluous money in the house
is equivalent to spending it more or less foolishly. The
object of the regulation clearly was to prevent a larger
sum than £3O acournulating in any one year to the
credit of an individual, and so long as this end is at-
tained, it cannot surel3. matter whether a portion of
the maximum amount is occasionally withdrawn and
replaced.—Globe.

Britford fair, which is one of the largest in England,
and at which there are generally from 80,000 to 100,000 sheep
pemmi, was held at Britford, near Saiisbury, on Monday.
'the number on offer wis quite up to the usual average, the
condition and quality generally being very good in most
classes on account of the abundant and excellent keep every-
where to be found. There was a large attendance of
agriculturists and dealers front all parts of the eountry.

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