The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1870-07-01

I.NSN uPOi Out pCoptC hssS ~
killed in houses provided with rods,
and believed to be quite secure. The
explanation of the first inadequacy
appears to be that the protection OF the
feather BED is insufficient, unless the
head is covered by some non-conduct-
ing substance; perhaps Franklin'ssug-
gestion to get into hammock suspen-
ded i'm the middle of large room by silk
cords would be, with the addition of a
silk night cap, the soundest that could
he adopted. As regards window glass,
il seems that during lightning the inner
panes of closed windows acquire an op-
cosite electricity to the outside, whence
any conducting body is likely to con-
centrate the action OH the Inside. On
the other hand, it is indisputable that
all draughts of air are conductors, and
therefore should be avoided. 1t is not
always convenient or possible to avail
of Franklin's plan, and i'm the houses
standing i'm exposed situations the wis
est resource during violent thunder
storms may be to get into the largest
room Of the lower story, and having
placed a chair with each of its four
legs i'm a stout glass tumbler, to envelOp
oneself i'm silk, and then to occupy the
chair, with the feet, of course, off the
floor.
The great danger, it should always
be remembered, from the electric fluid,
except when surrounded by non-con-
ductors, lies i'm isolation, and this not
withstanding the curious and appar-
entity contradictory fact that nine per-
sons were prostrated simultaneously
the other day by lightning at a place
on Long Island. We seldom hear of
accidents in great cities where numer-
Gus houses are crowded together, or at
wharves where there are many
ships, or i'm woods where there are
many trees. The aggregation of con-
ductOrs in such cases prevents the gath
ering of antagonistic electricity to a
degree adequate to destructive dischar-
ges. 1t Is the solitary house or tree, the
lofty and lonely church-steeple, the
solitary traveller plodding across aplsin
that i'm whose behalf, consequently, the
Now, il has been urged, in view of the
frequent failures of lightning-rods as
projectors, that good rods scientifically
applied are really sufficient for their
purpose; that failures arise from ignor-
ant or bungling application, or bad
materials, or disregard of some of those |
precautionary details so carefully set
forth in Lyons "Treatise on Light
ming Conductors" which have the en- |
dorsement of the Scientific american; /;
but, after all, there is abundant reason |
TO assume, and this OH the same prin- |
ciple of distribution already referred to,
that a metallic roof, whether of tin, |
zinc or lead, connecting by spouts of
similar metal with wells, or with the |
earth, is as good o protection against |
lightning as dwelling can have. 1t
is admitted by experts that in houses |
so provided the efficiency of lightning |
protectors proper is impaired by the |
preponderance of conducting surface OH |
the roof and down the sides of the |
building; and as the application of
such rods, under such circumstances,
looks very like gliding refined gold and
painting the lily, We may ask why ap- |
ply them at all? Steinmetz, a very
good authority, seems to think the best
lightning-conductOr to be lead or cop
per on the ridge of the roof, with per-
feet continuation of metal pipes into
the ground.
There is no doubt that certain indi-
viduals are far more likely to be in
jured by lightning than the mass of
their fellow-beings; and hence, if such
susceptibility is apprehded and can by
any means be verified, it is highly inn
portant that such person should have
recourse to extraordinary protectives.
That women are less obnoxious to the
fluid, or less attractive to it, than the
men, is established by abundant statis-
tical evidence. The French tables, the
most minute of which we have any
knowledge, give the casualties to wo-
men from lightning at less than one
third of those to men. The fact is va
riously explained, especially by the ale
cation that men are more exposed than
women, and that the silk dresses worn
by the latter, give them comparative
immunity; but many women i'm
France are very much exposed, and
these are just the women who do not
wear silk dresses. Moreover, it is af-
firmed that I'm many cases the fluid,
falling on q group of both sexes, has
picked out the males. Jtwould appear
from this that during thunder-storms,
if ut no other time, the ladies may
with rational delicacy give up the
places of most approved security to
their male companions. Apart from
this discrimination of sexes, the light
ming exhibits still other preferences.
Wonderful as 1t seems, there are per-
sons who have been struck by it sever
al times during their lives; and, what
is more astonishing still, one such per-
son has been struck by lightning three
times i'm three different dwelling. He
has the consolation of knowing that
the frequency of these visitations seem
to deprive them of their fatal charact-
er-for, we believe, he still survives
vet the chance of being struck by
lightning, so often made jest of be-
cause I'm any individual case so unlike
ly, must always I'm his case be uncom-
fortably probable.
An examination of many recent pa
pers from scientific sources on electric
nj phenomena, coupled with late noto-
rioss refutations by nature, not only of
the superstitions of the. ignorant, but
of the elaborate conclusions of saUdns,
leads us to the belief that the present
state of human knowledge on this
mysterious and most interesting sub
ject is exceedingly imperfect, and its
deductions peculiarly untrustwortby.
Only within very short time have
men known-Or, at least, begun to act
as il they knew-that the electrical
fluid does not descend alone from above
i'm vertical lines, but approaches bori-
ZOntally, anu eNcH SOL1etlIueS ITOlu De- |
low. The fact that houses without
lightning-rods have of late been fire.
quently passed over without injury du-
ring storms, while adjacent houses
with those provisions have been more
or less affected, must inevitably have
serious influence in destroying conf
dence i'm device formerly thought so
effectual. 1t would be matter for
public congratulation if the country
which possessed a Franklin should, at
the present i'm some respects brilliant,
but i'm other dubious and unsatisfacto-
ry stage of electrical development and
Investigation, produce powerful and
thoroughly y-trained thinker who, by
devoting his exclusive attention to the
subject, might lead us out of the mists
and clouds Of our half-knowledge into
the light of a more perfect day.
ONE of the most notable improve
ments introduced by the new trotting
rules is the stoppage of shouting among
the drivers while trot:ing races. Here
tofore it has been the custom of every
track-driver to shout and halloo dur
ing the race, according to the points
likely to be gained by it; sometimes to
wake up and stimulate his own horse
to the utmost, but more frequently it
was resorted to as a means of breaking
uo and oyer-exciting the contesting