Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-04-22
THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.

city Underwriting Ane edOtes an
Incidents.
We gather the following from d
FOnvielle's work on "Thunder an
Lightning" lately published i
Scribner and Co.'S Illustrated Ii
Jrary Of Wonders: i
On the 10th of September, 1916
a ball of lightning presented itsel
at the threshold of kitchen stu
ated in the village of Salagnac, il
the valley Of La Correze. Tire,
women who were there experienced
no fear in the presence of thu
strange visitor. They shouted to .
young man, near to whose feet The
ball was rolling, to step upon it ant
extingGish it.
Luckily for him this peasant lac
had been to Paris and had been
electrified one day on the Champs
Elysees for two sous. He had learnt
to respect the mysterious fluid and
its shocks; in spite of the impru-
dent exhortations of the girls he
allowed the ball to pass by. 1t was
fortunate, indeed, that he did so,
for few seconds later the treach-
erous sphere exploded violently in
a neighboring stable. 1t killed q
pig which happened to be shut up
there, and which, knowing nothing
about the wonders of thunder and
lightning, dared to smell it in a
most rude and unbecoming man.
ner.
The volume of these brilliant
spheres is never very considerable
Out of the one and forty obseIva-
tons in which the approximate di-
mansions of the meteor have been
estimated, in one case only it was
stated to be upward of yard wide.
1t is most often compared TO the
apparent size of the moon, and
sometimes even to a child's marble.
Almost always these Illuminating
globes move along as slowly as that
which visited the streets of Milan.
The curious could walk behind it
for three or four minutes before it
exploded upon the cross of a clock
tower; another iron point! Some
who have seen these curious me
teors have believed that they were
crrried along by slight current of
air, so calm were their appearances /;
they have actually been seen to stop
in their course as if celebrating
upon which side they should pro-
coed next. A Illuminating globe
which had rolled toward the door of
a drawing-Foom appeared intimi-
dated by the presence of some per.
sons who happened to be there. 1t
required TO reflect for a few instants
before advancing to the middle Of
the room.
MOTIVE POWER OF LIGHTNING.
On the 9th of August, 1869, at ,
o o'clock in the afternoon, dreadful
explosion was heard in the house of
Mr.. Chadwick, gentleman living
in the ntighborhood of Manchester.
The external wall of a little builds
ing in brick, which was thirty-six
inches wide, three and half yards
high, and had one foot of founda-
ton, was literally uprooted and car
ried over the ground, without quit
ting its upright position. 1t was
found, on examining what had hap
pened, that one Of the extremity of
the building had been moved three
yards, and the other, round which
the wall had turned in its move
ment, one yard and a quarter. The
wall thus lifted up was composed of
1000 bricks, and would weigh
about twenty three tons.
FISH KILLED BY LIGHTNING.
Arago relates that on the 18th of
September, 1872, lightning struck
the Doubs and killed all the trout
which swan in that part of the riv-
er; the water was soon covered
with dead fish floating on their
backs.
One century earlier, the almost
subterraneOus Lake of Zirnitz had
been the theater of a similar event,
but upon a much larger scale. The
people in the neighborhood collected
an enormous quantity of fish killed
by the electric flash; there were
enough to fill eighteen carts.
Perhaps it is easier to kill q fish
by lightning than a man but must
confess that / should not like to
have been swimming in that gigan-
tic bath, so curiously encased among
the rocks, when the phenomenon
occurred. Lightning has certainly
the power of reaching its victims
wherever they may be, so that it is
next to impossible TO find in this re-
spect perfect security.
LIGHTNING MOST DANGEROUS TO AN
IMALS.
The following anecdote will show,
on the contrary, that the electric
fluid appears to be more dangerous
to animals than TO men; and that
the more animated beings are eX-
posed to it, the more refractory their
bodies prove to its passage on
transmission. Lightning, says the
chronicle, struck the famous Abbey
de Noirmontiers, in the year Ills !;
it killed twenty-five horsesfn the
stables, but it did no harm to the
hundred and fifty ecclesiastics as
sembled in the reiectOry. 1t, never
theless, struck that particular part
of the building, for il overturned, or
csused TO be overturned, the bottle
which each reverend father had be,
fore him, and which contained his
allegiance.
Certain authentic reports appear
TO prove that the human race is that
which lives the best in the society
of lightning; as if the storm We're
susceptible of indulgence for the
being charged with forming an
opinion upon the things Of this
world, and with the exercise OF
volition and reason.
On the 26th of September, 1920
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