The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1876-03-31
PHENOMENA OF LIGHTNING
Some Very singular Results Produced
by the Electric Fluid.
from Chambers's journal.

Pio"uScu w hSHtnlnp, caicullteu 10
incite wonderment in the minds of per-
sons IMMERSED in the phenomena of
electricity, and to set scientific men
thinking and experimenting on the
probable causes of these appearances.
Of the destruction of ships and houses
by lightning we do not speak, nor of
the more lamentable cases in which per-
sons have been struck dead by such Wis
i%tations. The phenomena more imme-
diately in view are lightning figures or
pictures, impressions burnt into the sur
face of the objects struck, and present
ing r~esemblances concerning which fan
cy has been allowed to draw fanciful
conclusions.
Marks remarkably tree-like have
sometimes been found on the bodies of
persons struck by lightning. MN.
Bossut and Leroy, in 1876, reported to
the Academic DIES Sciences case of this
kind, and accounted for it by supposing
that the lightning, in its passage
through the body, had forced the blood
into the vessels Of the skin, and thus
all the ramifications of these vessels
were visible on the surface. Arago
adopted q similar explanation in regard
TO q case which occurred in France
much more recently-two persons,
near a poplar tree, were struck by light
ming, and on the breast of each were
found marks closely resembling the
branchlets of the poplar.
More strictly belonging to those in
stances in which the lightning sparks
resemble familiar objects is one that &C.
Cured in a Somersetshire village in 1912.
One version of the story is, that "six
sheep, reposing in a meadow surround
ed by the woods, were killed by light
ming, and when the skins were taken
from the animals a fac-simile of a por-
ton of the surrounding scenery was
visible on the inner surface of each
skin" The other version is, that about
turnip-sowing time q farmer and his
men were engaged in the fields, when a
violent storm of thunder and lightning
came on, and three out of four valuable
rams, which had taken shelter under a
tree, were killed. When the skins
reached the f~ellmonger IN the inside of
each was found depicted 4 very accu-
rate representation of the tree under
which the animals had sought refuge.
Although differing in details, these two
accounts probably relate to the same oc-
currence; the latter, perhaps, more
credible than the former, seeing that
we can more readily believe an impress
sion of a tree than of q landscape being
thus produced.
In 1876, ut Graham's Town, in South
/ Africa, Il flash of lightning struck the
/, gable of q powder mill. The building
!, contained a store of twelve tons of gun
powder, in copper-bound barrels, pack
, ed in n cluster about four feet from the
wall. The lightning ran along the wal
1 of the gable, beneath the floor, and out
, under the door-sill. The mark of the
| flash, zigzag in shape, and directed at
an angle of about eighty degrees, was
1 plainly visible on the whitewashed wal
of the magazine, resembling in color
e the stain produced by the explosion OF
c a very light train of powder, and 9
small hole or crack was made in the
arch where it entered. There was nc
t tree mark or mystical mark here; the
= mark produced wa evidently the zig.
gag path of the lightning itself.
Signor Orioli brought before a scien
tifc congress at Naples four narrative.
5 relating to lightning prints. In the first
lightning struck the foremost of thu
%brigantine Santo Buon Servo, in tn,
Bay of Arriero; a sailor sitting under
the mast was struck dead, and on hi
C back was found an impression of
horseshoe similar to n fixed at tn,
masthead. In the second, a sailor, in
y somewhat similar position, was strucl
by a lightning flash on the left breas
d with an impression of the number A
an almost exact representative of
j. number A that was at the extremity O
one of the masts. In the third a youn.
man was found struck by lightning; HI
!, had a girdle with some gold coins in it
p and images of these were imprinted OIL
his skin in the order they occupied il
the girdle. In the fourth an Italian lad,
n of Lugano was sitting near a window
}, during a thunderstorm, and was struck
d though in a way scarcely conscious Il
herself at the time; a flower which hap
pened to be in the path of the lightnin.
was nerfectly nrnduced OR nrintad O,