The weekly American banner. (Yazoo City, Miss.) 1855-18??, 1856-11-07
An ADVOCATE OF AMERICAN rRIncifLEs
TAz0O CITY. MISS FRIDGK. NOVEMBER Z, 1856. !.


The pecu1iarities Of that terrible but mysterious
agent ghtning, made the subject of an interest
ing paper = recent number Of the British Quar-
terly Reyis Two clouds are not necessary for
discharged from q solitary clump Of vapor, when
connection can be established with the earth A |
French Academician, named Marcolle, describes |
case where mere cloudlet about q foot and half
in diameter. killed a poor woman by dropping q
thunderboIt upon her head 1t has been shown bv
Farnday that the electric fluid contained in single
flash might perhaps be supplied by the decompo-
siticn OF one grain of water alone. N. Amgo has
divided lightning into three sorts. The first in
cludes those where the discharge appears like long
luminous lines, bent into angels and zigzags and
varyingin complexion from white to blue, purple or
red. This kind is known as forked lightning, because
it occasionally divides into two branches. Char
pentier relates case where o fash severed into
three forks, each of which stuck on poiuts several
hundred ethpart- Still more numerous furcatiops
have been reported, for it issnid that during tenn
pest at Landerneau and St Pol de Leon twenty.
four churches were struck, though only three dis
tinct claps were heard. This was eight churches
apiece for the three explosions! s4a
The second class of lightning differs from the
frstin the range of surface over which the flash is
difused and is designated sheet lightning Some
times it simply glds the edges of the Clouds whence
leaps; but at others it floods with urid radiance
or else sufuses its surface with bushes of rosy or
violet hue.
The third class Of lghtnings are remarkable for
their eccentricties. and have been made the subject
of considerable attention among metoroogists, many
of whom have dcnieo their right to bc treated as
legitimate Ightnings, they differ widely from the
ordinary sort of flashes. They exhibit themselves
as balls, or globular Jumps of fre-not momentary
apparitions, but meteols which take their own time,
and travel at remarkable rate 1t this incelerity
which gives them their doubtful character, as an
electrical bolt is supposed to be one of the leading
nf
ed of this kind of lightning is the following incl
dent, which occurred to tailor in ther St Jacques
t Val de Grace, about the yeir 1743 nj. Bsbnet was
commissioned by the Academy of Sciences to in
vestgate the facts, and reported substantially as
: follows
.After loud thunderclap, the tailor bel ag finish
ing his meal, the chimney BOARD fall down il
besst by slight gust of wind, and globe of FIRE
the size of ch'lds head, out quietly into Ia
room at a small height above the floor; the tailor
f said it looked like good sized kitten, rolled up in
= a ball, and msving without showing it's paws II
was bright and shining but he felt no sensation O
II heat. The globe came near his feet, like young
cat that wants to rub itself against its masters legs
8 but by moving them aside gently he avoided the
contact. 1t appears to have played for several
onds about his feethe bending his body over itane
examining it attcntively After trying some
sions in different directions it rose vertically to tn
1t height Of his head which he threw back to ayois
. touching his face. The globe elongating little
- then steered towards hole in the chimney abov
u The nmntle-piece which hole recsived stove-pip
b an winter, but was now pasted over with paper
bt srhe thunder he said could not see the hole bu
nevertheless the bah went sragh. to the aperture
removing the paper without hurting il, and mad
e Its way into the chimney. Shortly afterwards. AM
r when he supposed it had time to reach the top.
made dreadful explosion. which destroyed tn
upper part Of the chimney and thr,w the ftagms.t
ns on the roofs of smaller building, which they brok
Of through. The tailor's kdging was the thir
story the lower ones not visited at oil by th
IS thunder-bolt." - Re
"a Lightning, when 1t meets with on obstruction j
q its course frequently skaters the nonconductin
be object, dispensing and bursting substances asundt
III in every direction as if they had been charged wit
ls gmpowder. The stone pinnacle Of q church
III Cornwall was struck by lightning, and one fral
n. ment weighing three hundred pounds was hurle
he sixty yards to the southwark another four hunde
ist yards to the north, and third to the south-wes
ful In 1898 the topgallant mast of II. N. ship Rodne
to was literally cut up into chips by fiashof ligh
N ming, the sea being strewn with the fragments as
no the carpenters had been sweeping their Shawn!
,ed overheard. Sometimes, in striking tree or mas
,us the electric fluid will slice it into long shreds I'll
ments. SO that twill appear like huge broom or
bundle of laths. Lightning bolts wlll occasional
m through resisting objects by tearing great opening
.ts in Cornish church, where apertures were ma
in the solid wall of the belfry fourteen inches dee
, and as if cut out by art. In other instances SIN,
ne holes are drilled which are surprising for their pt
~ feet circularity of form. Window panes have be
frequently pierced in this fashion, without affech
eM the rest Of the glass. In forming these apertures,
81: 4" burr of projection is left upon the glass.
"a Juvenile electricians are in the habit OF maxi
1 holes in cards by passing discharges through the
~. when burr or projection will be observed on be
oo sides of the orifice. Sometinesa single dischai
.".. will produce two holes in card, each punct,
s"S marked by single burr, one on the upper and
other on the under side of the card. In some
stances the results nre such to suggest that fla
may be split up into several fery faments bef
nds it strikes an object In l777 weathercock of
the ned copper was hurled by thnnlcrbolt from
!. top Of a church In Cremona, and, upon inspect
" was found to be pierced with eighteen holes, In N
up of them the burr was conspicuous one side, q
nds in nine It equally prominent the other, wi
the the slope of the burr was indentical in all.
how Among the curiesities of lightning are whnt
termed .fulgnrites," or tubes, which the lightn
constructs when it failb upon silicious spot,
fusing the sand They may be called casts Of tn
nun derbolts. In some hilocks of sand in Cumherla
England these hiIlow tubes have been found Fl
has one-fftieth to two inches In diameter hpering
rer- haps to point The entire extent Of the tn
~ may be thirty feet, but they usually separate
numerous branches, and have the appearance OF
ors. skeleton Of an inverted tree They are lined
PITY glass smooth and perfect as # it had been N
on in glasshouse. s.sa as .,sa
long THECOtJNTRY CHILD.
4 up1a ss, By CUNNINGHAM. M IS
INT Child OF the country! OH the lawn 81 I
llow Iseeihee Ike the boundfngs sfamn,
ssed,l Biithe as the bird which tries It's wing
pro- The first time on the wings OF Spring;
sne Bright as tie sun when from the cloud
na- He comes as cocks are growing loud
e OF Now running Shouting, mid sunbeams.