Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1869-05-26
THUNDER AND LIGHTNING
EeiasriSabIe Phenomena of EIcctricIt,
Interesting anecdotes aud Incident.

Lightning" lately published in
Scrihner & Co. = illustrated Library
OF Wonders -
On the 10th of September. 1915 a
ball ofliShtning presented itselfat the
| threshold of a kitchen situated in
the village of Salagnac. in the val
/ ley OF La CorreZe. Three women
/ who were there experienced no fear
IN the presence of the strange visit
| or. They shouted to young man.
near to whose feet the ball was roll
| ing, 10 step upon it and extinouiah.
| it.
| Luckily for him this pleasant lad
had been to Paris, and had been cleo
| trifed one day on the Champs Ely
sees for two sous. He had learnt
| 10 respect the mysterious fluid and
/ lis shocks in spite of the imprudent
eXhortations of the girls he allowed
/ the ball to pass by. / t was fortunate.
/ indeed, that he did so, for a few sec
| ondS later the treacherous sphere
exploded violently in neighboring
stable 1t killed Il pig which happen
ed To be shut up there, and which.
/ knowing nothing about the wonders
OF thunder and lightning, dared TO
smell it in n most rude ana unbecom-
/ ing manner.
The volume of these brilliant
spheres is never considerable. Out of
the one-and-forty observations in
which the approximate dimensions
OF the meteor have been estimated.
IN one case only it was stated to be
upward of a yard wide 1t is most
often compared To the apparent size
of the moon, ana sometimes, even.
To q chllu'S marble.
Almost always these Eliminating
globes move along as slowly as that
which visited the streets of Milan.
The curious could walk behind ii
for three or four minutes before it
exploded upon the cross of a clock
tower another iron point. Some
who have seen these curious nete-
or~ have believed that they were
carried along by slight current of
ar, 80 calm were their appearances
they have actually been seen to
stop In their course rs ifdeliheratinr
upon which side they should pro-
ceed next. \ Illuminating globe
which had rolled toward the door of
draw ing-room appeared intini,lat-
cd hy the presence of some persons
who happened To- be- there. It re-
quired To reflect for few fnstants
before advancing to the middle Of
the room.
MOTIVE roWEE or IIGHTNENG.
On the 9Th of August. 1865. at >
q clock in the afternoon, q dreadful
explosion WAS heard in the house of
Mr.. Chadwick. = gentleman living
IN the neighbOrhOod of Manchester.
The eXtcrn3! wall Of Il little build
ing IN brick, which was thirtv-six
inches Wide, three and a half wards
high, and had one foot of foundation.
was literally uprootcd ana carried
over the ground, without quitting
it, uPItStIJ pD-Iti,,,i. ! ,r,5usiI,I. "a
examining what had happened, that
one extremity of The building had
been moved three yards, aud the
other, round which the wall had
turned in its movement. one yard
and a quarter. The wall thus lifted
up was composed of coo bricks, and
wouldweiSh about twenty -threetons
FISH KILLED BY LIGHTNING.
Arago relates that on the 18th of
September, I772, lightning struck
the DOubs and killed all the trout
which swan in that part of the river:
the water was soon covered with
dead fish floating oil 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 fash there were
enough To- fill eighteen carts.
Perhaps ii il easier To Kill a fish by
lightning than i man; but ] must
confess that | should not like To have
been swimming in that gigantic bath,
80 curiOusIy encased among the
rocks, when the phenomenon occur
red. Lightning has certainly the
power of reaching its victims wher-
ever they may be, so that it is
next 10 impossible to find in this re-
spect perfect security.
LIGHTNING MOST DANGEROUS To
ANIMALS.
The following auecdOte Will show,
on the contrary, that the electric
+ fluid appears 10 lac more dangerous
tO animals than to men and that
+ the more animated beings axe expos
+ ei 10 it, the more refractory their
4 bodie. prove 10 its passage on trans
/ mission. lightning, says the chron-
i ICle, struck the famous Abbey ,r
+ NGlrmantiers, iu the year l7i5; it
+ killed twenty-five horses in the
stables, bat il did 10 harm To the
/ hundred and fifty ecclt-sias ties assem-
h!ed an the refractory. 1t, uevcrthe-
less, struck that particular part of
The oaIidIuE, fer it overturned, or
caused 10 he overturned, the bottle
which each reverend father had be-
fore hlm, and which contained his
allowance.
/ tentain authentic reports appear
In prove that the human race j. that
which lives the best in the society
Z E..