The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1860-09-01
ARE LIcHrNISc,Ro USEFUL ?

ii. Walden. wrl ing from Montville, Conn,
July 6.h, to lions Herald, thus DISCUSSES
this question:
About a week ago this town was visited
by short but violent thunder storm. A
valuable horse. belonging to Mr.. James AL
lyn. was killed Instantly, and also The house
of VIM. Wheeler. Esq, was struck. aud
considerably injured. Though this house is
nearly new. and apparently well protected
by lightning rods, it has been thus struck
two or three times, while the other houses
of the neighborhood. not protected, have
been ithelto unsca he'd. Such facts cause
people. to disregard such protectors
Nothing in the situation 0f this house
seems to Indicate that it would e N e like
ly 10 be thus assailed than oilers ; blu
whenever house thus protected is thus in.
jured or destroyed. some will confid .nlls
assert that there must be something wrong
in the rods or in their erection. Now, sir
since the resistless bolts of heaven Often,
glare about US with frighthful brightness,
and the artillery of the skies sums Us with
It's deafrnipg peal7 revealing 10 Us the mos
appalling dangers. and arousin5 all our en-
ergies 10 turn them aside, is il not passing
strange that after hundred years expert
ence with Frankln's instructions in our
hands, we should still be unable To do it-un
able to make and erect il sGhtling rods skillul-
iy?
Is it not more reasonable to believe that
such rods are not reliable as protectors :?
Some suppose they bring upon Us the very
evil we wish to avoid : but, from statistics
of a small section of New England. it APP
pears that i'll proportion to TIE number of
buildings with rods and the number with
out them, the number of each struck by
lightning is about equal. which seems t.
teach that on the whole our dangers are
neither incre sed or deer a.ed by their use.
Reliable statistics of this sort might throw
much light on this subject. Where may
such be found, and who will give them to
the public @
IL is true, electric fluid in our hands OBJ
serves our theoretical laws with consider
able uniformity. but not so when in the
hands of Jupiter IcRons. He operates III
different cIrcums a'ces and on a larger
scale, and distuIbs our theoriea al ti6ituBa !;
or perhaps ! should say God rules the thur
der and directs its bolts according to his
own will. L thunderstorm thousand
fiery bolts pass horizontally from one cloud
TO another, or from one part Of a cloud 10
another. ascending as often as descending.
and manifesGng 10 great parliality tor-vls-
ting terra .tfrma. Many have believed thai
this fluid sometimes passes from the earth
To "A cloud. In that case of what use would
rod be ? 1t often passes along horizon
tally near the earth. as It's works abundantly
prove. Accordingly, on striking church
some years ago in this town, ii leaped from
its wooden conductors through the air, de
stroyed pews, killed two persons and stunned
others at one end of the church, and then.
flying over a number of pews to one in front
of the pulpit. made a hole in the back of a
chair, aud then went we know not whittier.
From Omstead's Philosophy, page 245, we
learn that this fluid will sometimes leave
good conductors and pass through the air.
Then in a thunderstorm may not this fluid
surrounded, as it must ofen be with attrac-
lions, repulsions. and rarefactions, opera
Ting more strongly, it may be, than any
conducting rod, depart from or disregard
he rod. and take horizontal or upward
course ? Then of W hai advantage would the
rod be /? That many buildings with rods
attached to them have stood long time un-
scatled by lis ming is freely admitted bui
so have still larger number with no rods
attached to them. and hence no argument
can be drawn from such facts in favor o:
their utility but if any one can show by
reliable statistics or conclusiee reasoning that
they are on the whole useful. thousands,
believe, would receive the Information with
profound gratitude.