The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1876-02-22
Lightning Prints.

sut and Leroy, 10 1885. reported to the
Academic des Sciences case of this kind
and accounted for it by supposipg tba,
the lightning in its passage through the
body had forced the blood into the vessels
of the skin, and thus all the ramifcationt
of those vessels were visible on the sur.
face. Arago adopted similar explana
tion, in regard to case which occurred
in France much more recently. Two per.
sons standing near a poplar tree were
struck by lightning, and on the breast oi
each were found marks closely resembling
the branches of the poplar. More strictly
belonging to those instances in which the
lightning marks resemble familiar object.
is one that occurred IN a Somersetshirt
village in 1912. One version of the story
is that "six sheep reposiDg in a meadow
surrounded by woods were killed BY
lightning, and when the skins were taken
from the animals fac simile Of portion
of the surrounding scenery was visible on
the inner surface of each skin" The
other version is that, about turnip. p.sowinp
time, farmer and his men we're engaged
in the fields when violent storm oil
thunder and lightning came on. and three
out of four valuable rams, which had
taken shelter under a tree, we're killed
when the skins reached the fell monger
on the inside of each was found depicted
a very accurate representation Of the tree
under which the animals had sought
refuge. Although differing in details,
these two accounts probably relate to the
came occurrence the latter is. perhaps,
more credible than the former seeing
that we can more readily believe an i'm.
preston of tree than of q landscape be.
ing thus produced. In 1s46. at Graham s
Town in South Africa, fash of lightning
struck the gable Of powder.mill. The
building contained store of twelve tons
Of gunpowder, in copper.bound barrels
packed in cluster about four feet from
the wall. The lightning ran along the
wall Of the gable, beneath the floor, and
out under the door.sill. The mark of the
fash, zigzag IN shape, and directed at an
angle of about eighty degrees, vas plainly
visible on the whitewsshed wall of the
magazine, resembling in color the stain
produced by the explosion of very light
train of powder; and small hole or
crack was made in the arch where it en-.
tered There was no tree.mark or mys.
tical mark here the mark produced was
evidently the zigzag path Of the lightning
itself. Siguor Orioli brought before a
scientific congress at Naples four nara.
tives relating to lightning.prints. In the
first lightning struck the foremast of the
brigantine Santo Buon Servo in the Bay
of Arricro; sailor sitting under the
mast was struck dead, and on MS back
was found an impression of horseshoe.
similar to one fixed at the masthead. In
the second, sailor, ia a somewhat simi.
lar position, was struck by a lightning.
flash on the left breast with an impres.
sion of the number A an almost exact
representative Of number A that was at
the extremity of one Of the masts. In
the third, young man was found struck
by lightning; he had Oh a girdle with
some gold coins in it. and images of these
were imprinted on his skin in the order
they occupied in the girdle In the
fourth, an Italian lady Of Lugano was
sitting near window during a thunder.
storm. and was struck, though 10 a way
scarcely conscious to herself at the time !;
flower which happened to be in the path
of the lightning was perfectly reproduced
or printed on her leg, where it remained
permanently. Among the thunder.storms
described as having occurred in the West
Indies, one, in 1852, was rendered re-.
markablo by this phenomenon A poplar
tree in coffee plantation was struck by
lightning, and on one Of the large dry
leaves was found imprinted an exact rep.
resentation of some pine trees that stood
three or four hundred yards distant.
Whether this was really an "exact repre-.
sentation." or the product Of an excited
Imagination not we'll controlled by accu.
rate judgment. is just the point which VIC
cannot determine /; the markings on the
leaf may have been only the natural zig.
aagging Of the lightning. In 1858 a
little girl was standing at = window near
which stood young maple tree; fash
of lightning struck either the girl or the
tree, or both, and an image Of the tree
was found imprinted on her body. 10
another instance boy climbed tree to
steal birds nest; Lightning fash
struck the tree; the boy fell to the
ground, and ION bis breast the image OF
tree, with the bird and nest on one of
its branches. appeared very conspicuou.
ly." Scientific journals, as we'll as those
of more popular character, contain a rich
store of incidents more or less similar to
the above. DR.. franklin stated in 1886
that about twenty years previously man
who was standing opposite tree that bad
just been struck by lightning for, as be
called it, by ,huuderbolp, found on bis
breast an exact representation of tha,
tree. NJ Poey, who has treated this sub
ject somewhat fully in the French scien
tifc journals, mentioned twenty four
cases of lightning impressions Oh the
bodies OF men and animals. OF those
eight were impressions Of trees or parts
OF trees one Of q bird, and one Of cow
four Of crosses three Of circles. or of i'm
pressions Of coins carried about the per.
son two of horse-shoes one of a nail
enc of a metal comb one OF number OF
numeral one OF the words of sentence
and one Of the back of an armchair
Where metal is concerned, the production
Of images or fac.similes may result mor'
Immediately from this rush Of electricit,
which constitutes the passage oflightning
Wherever metal lies 10 the path, the hasl
takes that route in preference to on,
through wood, brick, or stone: but if tn,
metal be discontinuous or interrupted
strange markings are often produced OF
ncighboriug substances, similar in shap
to the piece Of metal just traversed. Tbi
may have been the case 10 the accideu
which befell a young man in Cuba il
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