The tribune. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1875-09-08
lightning and Some Of Its Effects.

The last two months have been re-
markable for the number of persons who
have been killed or injured. during them
by lightning. Statistics in regard to this
point are not complete, but those that
have been gathered show about one per-
son each day struck by this subtle and
powerful agent i'll various parts of the
Union, about half as many having been
killed as have been merely injured.
Death by lightning is not Mt any time so
rare an occurrence as it is commonly
thought to be, but electrical disturb
ances during the present summer have
been greater and more frequent than
usual. The heavens have been at war
with the earth with water and fire, and
have succeeded i'll doing much injury to
their old antagonist. Floods, hurricanes,
and cyclones, hail and lightning have
wrought uncommon disaster, and, III not
predicting the Immediate destruction of
the world, persons of n prophetic,
sevcnth-seal, and Millerite tendency have
not shown themselves fully aware to the
opportunities of the time. The "freaks
of lightning" has become common
phrase, no other force than electricity
ever being guilty Of such enormous and
wonderful yet common departures from
their ordinary workings with such ter
rifle effect.
If it were possible for gravitation 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
off, the nebul@ roll away, the central
sun shine out and all be lovely again
If this we possible we should have to
seek homes i'll Mr.. Proctor's "Other
Worlds than Ours " for peace and quiet
ness. Lightning can never be counted
on to act III any given way sometimes
it appears as ball of fire rolling along
the ground and exploding with terrific
noise or going quietly into the earth
sometimes it hovers and flashes close to
the earth or water again, in n zigzag
line it leaps from cloud to cloud or. di-
rectly to the earth sometimes man is
struck and no lightning is seen some
times it touches man and gently melts
his watch, doing no other harm anon
it strikes house, runs down the Chin
ney and, finding nothing of more i'm
portance to do, kindly sends poker fly
ing through the window, mclts copper
kettle and then runs down n rat hole.
Its favorite mancuver is to tear off the
sole OF mans boot oD its passage to
the earth. It has peculiar effect in
fastening the decay of animal tissue,
and not infrequently the person who is
killed by it is almost instantly so far pu-
trefed that he has to be buried at once.
1t is said, though with what truth we
know not, that in the eye of a person
struck and killed by the discharge there
is always peculiar spot on the eyeball,
produced by the extravazation of blood
caused by the sudden expansion and
rupture of minute blood vessels. It was
once supposed that neighboring trees
We're 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 aboriza-
tion of electricity which every one who
has noticed a highly charged Leyden
jar has seen, rs the electricity escapes
into the air or icks around to the tinfoil
on the outside. The same effect may be
obtained by discharging lightning over
n sheet of glass on which steam has
been condensed. The safest place dur
ing thunderstorm is in the center of n
room, and if one is very nervous he may
put tumblers under the legs of the chair
on which he sits, for electricity always
seeks the path of the least resistance.