Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1859-02-22
MIS- SCELL Al Y
Curiosities of Electricity.


The peculiarities of that terrible but mysteri.
ous agent, lightning, are made the subject of an
interesting paper in recent number OF the Brit
ish Quarterly Review. Two clouds are not me-
cessary for The production of lightning, which is
frequently discharged from solitary clump of
yapor when connection can be established
with the earth. 4 French academician, named
Marcole, describes 9 case where mere cloudlet
about foot and half in diameter killed poor
woman by dropping a thunderbolt upon her
head. 1t has been shown by Faraday that the
electric fluid contained in single flash might,
perhaps, be supplied by the decomposition Of
one grain of water alone. NJ. Arago has divided
the lightning into three sorts. The first includes
those where tho discharge appears like long
luminous lines, bent into angles and zigzags, and
VARYING in complexion from white 70 blue, pur-
ple, or red This kind is known as forked light
ming, because it occasionally divides into two
branches. Carpenter relates a case where q
flash severed into three forks, each of which
struck on points several hundred feet apart
Still more numerous furcations have been re-
ported: for it is said that during tempest at
Landerneau and st. Pol de Leon, twenty.four
churches were struck, though only three distinct
claps were heard. This was eight churches a.
piece for the three explosions.
The second GLASS of lightning differs from the
first in the range of surface over which the flash
is diffused and is designated as sheet lightning.
Sometimes it simply gids the edges of the cloud
whence it leaps; but at others it floods with q
lurid radiance, or else suffuses its surface with
bushes of rosy or violet hue ~
The third class of lightnngs are remarkable
for their eccentricities, and have been made the
e a. 70 otf
rologists, many of whom have denied their right
to be treated as legitimate lghtnings, they differ
so widely from the ordinary sort of flashes
They exhibit themselves as balls or globular
Jumps of fire--not momentary apparitions, but
.meteors. which take their own time, and travel
at remarkable rate. It's this ncelerity which
gives them their doubtful character, as an cleo
trical bolt is supposed to be one of the leading
emblems of velocity. Among other anecdotes
related of this kind of lightning, is the following
incident which occurred TO tailor in the Rue
St. Jacques, Val de Grace about the year 1742.
NJ. Babinet was commissioned by the Academy
of Science to investigate the facts, and reported
substantially as follows:
sAfter loud thunder clap the tailor having
finished his meal, saw the chimney-board fall
down, as if beset by slight gust OF wind, and a
globe of fire, the size of child's head, come out
quietly into the room, at small height above
the fioor, the tailor said it looked like good
kitten, rolled up into a ball, and moving without
showing its paws. 1t was bright and shining,
but he felt no sensation of heat. The globe
came near his feet, like young cat that wants
to rub itself against its masters legs; but by
moving them aside gently, he avoided the con-
tact. 1t appears to have played for several Sc
conds about his feet, he bending his body over
lit and examining it attentively. After trying
some excursions in different directions, it rose
vertically to the height of his head, which he
threw back to avoid touching his face. The
globe elongating little, then steered towards a
hole in the chimney above the mantle-piece,
which hole received stove-pipe in winter, but
was now pasted over with paper. the thun-
DER he said, could not see the hole; but never
theiess, the ball went straight to the aperture,
removing the paper without hurting it, and
made its way into the chimney. Shortly after
wards, and when he supposed it had time to
reach the top, it made dreadful explosion,
which destroyed the upper part OF the chimney,
and threw the fragments on tho roofs OF smaller
buildings which they broke through. The tail
or's lodging was on the third story; the lower
ones were not visited at all by the thunderbot." /"
Lightning, when it meets With all obstruction
in its course, frequently skaters tho non-con-
Quoting object, dispensing and bursting sub.
stances asunder in every direction, as if they
had been charged with gunpowder. The stone
pinnacle of church in Cornwall was struck by
lightning, 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 1883,
the topgallant mast of her Majesty's ship Rod
ney was literally cut into chips by flash Of
lightning the sea being strewn with the frag-
ments as if the carpenters lad been sweeping
their shavings overheard. Sometimes, in stri-
king tree or mast, the electric fluid will slice it
into long shreds or flaments, SO that it will ap-
pear like huge broom or bundle of laths.---
Lightning bolts will occasionally dash through
resstless objects by tearing great openings, as in
Cornish church, where apertures We're made
in the solid wall of The belfry fourteen inches
deep, and as if cut out by art. In other in
stances small holes are drilled, which are sur
prising for their perfect circularity OF FORM
Window panes have been frequently pierced in
this fashion, 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 max.
ing holes in cards passing discharges through
them, when burr or projection will be observ-
cd on both sides of the orifce. Sometimes a