Knoxville Whig and chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1875-1882, 1875-08-25
Lightning.


The last two months have been remarka-
Bile for the number of persons who have
been killed or injured during them by
lightning. Statistics in regard to this point
are not complete, and those that have been
gathered show about one person each day
struck by this subtle aud powerful agent in
various parts of the Union, about half as
many having been killed as have been
merely injured Death by lightning is not
at any time so rare an occurrence MS it is
commonly thought to b "' electrical
disturbances during th 50. 'uer
have been greater and NJ l IN
usual The heavens hav, .,r viii
the earth with water and e. 90. nave sue.
ceeded in doing much injury ~ their old
antagonist Floods, hurti' nc, and cy-
clones. hail and lightning, nave wrought
uncommon disaster and, in rot predicting
the immediate destruction Of he world, per
sons of prophetic, seventh-."al, and Mil
lerite tendency have not shown themselves
fully awake to the opportunities of the
time. The " freaks of lightning has be-
come a common phrase, no other force than
electricity ever being guilty of such enor-
nous and wonderful yet common depart
ures from their ordinary working with such
terrific effect If it were possible for grav-
taton to indulge in such freaks; if there
were cosmical storms in which the worlds
were sent whirling through space on the
instant, knocking their heads together, and
then the cosmical sky should clear of, the
nebulT roll away, the central sun shine out
and all be lovely again--ifths were posi-
Bile we should have to seek homes in Mr..
ProctOrs "Other Worlds than Ours" for
peace and quietness. Lightning can never
be depended upon to act in any given way;
sometimes it appears rs ball Of fire rolling
along the ground and exploding with a ter
rife noise, or going quietly into the earth
sometimes il hovers and flashes close to the
earth or water; again. in Il zigzag line it
leaps from cloud to cloud. or directly to the
earth; sometimes man Is struck and no
lightning Is seen; sometimes it touches a
man and gently melts his watch, doing no
other harm; anon it strikes house, runs
down the chimney and, finding nothing of
more importance TO do, kindly sends
poker flying through the window, melts a
copper kettle, and then runs down rat
hole. It's iavorte vancouver is to tear of
the sole of a mans boot on its passage to the
earth. 1t has "A peculiar effect in Fastening
the decay of animal tissue, and not in
frequently the person who is killed by It is
almost instantly SO far putrefed that he has
to be buried at once. 1t is said, though
with what truth we know not, that in the
eve of IA person struck and killed by the
discharge there is always peculiar spot on
the eyeball, produced by the eXtrayRZation
of blood caused by the sudden expansion
and rupture Of minute blooj-vessels. 1t
was once supposed that neighboring trees
were sometimes photographed on the body
of the person struck, but recently it has
been shown that the appearance of the tree
is but the common authorization of electric
ity which every one who has noticed a
highly charged Leyden jar has seen, as the
electricity escapes into the air or ticks
around to the tinfoil on the outside. The
same effect may be obtained by discharg-
ing lightning over sheet ofglass on which
steam has been condensed. The safest
place during thunderstorm is in the cen
ter Of a room, and if one is very nervous he
may put tumbers under the legs of the
chair on which he sits, for electricity al.
ways seeks the path of the least resistance