Quasqueton guardian. (Quasqueton, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1856-1858, 1857-10-01

leading emblems of velocity. Among
other anecdotes related of this kind Of
lightning is the following incident which
occurred to a tailor in the Rue st. Jac-
ques, Val de Grace, about the year l743
M. Babinet was commissioned by the
Academy of Sciences to investigate the
facts, and reported substantially as fol-
lows :
"After loud thundcr-clap, the tailor
being finishing his meal saw the chin
ney board fall down rs if beset by slight
gust of wind, and globe of fire, the
size of child's head, come out quietly
into the room, at small height above
the floor the tailor said it looked like a
good sized kitten, rolled up into ball,
and moving without showing its paws.
1t was bright and shining, but lie felt no
sensation of heat. The globe came near
his feet, like young cat that wants to
rub himself against its masters leg; but
by moving them aside gently he avoided
the contact. 1t appears to have played
for several seconds about his feet, he
bending his body over it and examining
it attentively. After trying some excur-
sions in different directions, it rose verli-
cally to the height of his head, which he
threw back TO avoid touching his face
The globe elongating little, then s.eered
towards a hole in the chimney above the
mantel- piece, which hole received a stove
pipe in winter, but was now pasted over
with paper. 'The thunder he said,
could not see the hole but, neycrlhe
less, the ball went straight TO the aper-
ture, removing the paper without hurt
ing it, and made its way into the chin
ney. Shortly afterwards, and when he
supposed it had time to reach the top, it
made a dreadful explosion, which de-
stroyed the upper part of the chimney,
and threw the fragments on tie roof of
smaller buildings, which they broke
'hroug h.. The tailor's lodging was on
the third floor, the lower ones We're not
visited at all by the thunderbolt''
Lightning, when it meets an obstruc-
ton in its course, frequently skaters the
non conducting object, dispensing and
bursting substances asunder in every di-
rection, as if they had been charged with
gunpowder. The stone pinnacle of a
church in Cornwall was struck by light
ming, and one fragment weighing three
hundred pounds, was hurled sixty yards
to the southwark, another four hundred
yards to the north, and third to the
southwest. In 1888 the topgallant mast
of her Majesty's ship Rodney was liter
ally cut into chips by a flash of light
ming, the sea being strewn with the frag-
IlIcnrs as ir Tire csu pcnrcro ii'tu uecn sweep
ing their shavings overheard Some
times in striking tree or mast, the elec-
tric fluid will slice it into long shreds or
tilaments, so that it will appear like a
huge broom or bundle of lalhs. Light
ming bolts will occasionally dash through
resisting objects by tea ing great open
ings, as in Cornish Church, where APP
ertures were made in the solid wall of The
helfry fourteen inches deep, as if cut out
by art. In other instances small holes
are drilled which are surprising for their
perfect circularity of form. Window
panes have been pierced in the same man
ner, without affecting the rest of the
glass. In forming these apertures, burr
or projection is left upon the edges.
Juvenile electricians are in the habit
of making holes in cards by passing dis
charges through them, when burr or
projection will be observed OH both sides
of the orifce. Sometimes single dis
charge will produce two holes in a card,
each puncture marked by single burr,
one on the upper and the other on the
under side of the card. In some in
stances the results are such as TO suggest
that flash may be split up into several
fiery glaments before it strikes an object.
In l777 weathercock of timed copper
was hurled by thunderbolt from the top
of church in Cremona, and upon in
spection, was found to be pierced with
eighteen holes in nine of them the burr
was conspicuous on one side, and in nine
it was equally prominent ON the other,
while the slope of the burr was identical
in all.
Among the curiosities of lightning are
what is termed "fulguriles" or tubes,
which the lightning constructs when il
falls upon a silicious spot, by fusing the
sand. They may be called casts of thun-
derbolts. In some hillocks of sand in
Cumberland, England, these hollow tubes
have been found from one-fiftieth to two
inches in diameter, tapering perhaps to a
mere point. The entire extent of the
tubes may be thirty feet, but they usu-
ally separate into numerous branches, and
have the appearance of the skeleton of an
inverted tree. They arc lined with glass,
as smooth and perfect as ii it had been
made in a glass house.