American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1876-04-01
PHENOMENA OF LIGHTNING
Some Very Singular Results TrOduc Il
by the Electric Fluid.
From ChaInbers's Journal.

from Chaln DerS'S Journal.
Very curious results are sometimes
produced by lightning, calculated to
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
itations. 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 resemblances concerning which fam
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 1856, 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 qualifications of these vessels
were visible on the surface. Arago
adopted a similar explanation in regard
TO case which occurred in France
much more recently-two persons,
near 4 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 oc-
Cured in a Somersetshire illage in 1872.
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 fac-simile of a por-
ton of the surrounding scenery was
visible on the inner surface of each
skim The other version is, that about
turnip-sowing time 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 fellmonger on the inside of
each was found depicted 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 &C.
currence; the latter, perhaps, more
credible than the former, seeing that
we can more readily believe an impress
sion of tree than of landscape being
thus produced.
In 1916, at Graham's Town, in South
Africa, flash of lightning struck the
gable of a powder mill. The building
contained store of twelve tons of gun
powder, in copper-bound barrels, pack
ed 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
flash, zigzag in shape, and directed at
an angle of about eighty degrees, was
plainly visible on the whitewashed wall
of the magazine, resembling in color
the stain produced by the explosion of
a very light train of powder, and a
small hole or crack was made in the
arch where it entered. There was no
tree mark or mystical mark here; the
mark produced was evidently the zig
gag path of the lightning itself.
Signor Orioli brought before scien-
tifc congress at Naples four narratives
relating to lightning prints. In the first,
lightning struck the foremost of the
brigantine Santo Buon Servo, in the
Bay of Arriero; a sailor sitting under
the mast was struck dead, and on his
horseshoe similar to one fixed at the
masthead. In the second, sailor, in a
somewhat similar position, was struck
by lightning flash on the left breast
with an impression of the number A :
an almost exact representative of a
number A that was at the extremity OF
one of the masts. In the third a young
man was found struck by lightning; he
had 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 a window
during a thunderstorm, and was struck,
though in a way scarcely conscious to
herself at.the time; flower which hap
pened to be in the path of the lightning
was perfectly produced or printed on
her leg, where it remained permanently
Among the thunderstorms described
as having occurred in the West Indies,
one, in 1852, was rendered remarkable
by this phenomenon. A poplar tree in
a coffee plantation was struck by light
ming, and on one of the large dry leaves
was found imprinted an exact repre-
sentation of some pine trees that stood
800 or 400 yards distant. Whether this
was really an "exact representation" or
the product of an excited imagination
not well controlled by accurate judg-
ment is just the point which we can not
determine; the markings on the leaf
may have been only the natural zigzag-
ging of the lightning.
In 1858, a little girl was standing at q
window, near which stood "A young ma
pie tree; a flash of lightning struck
either the girl or the tree, or both, and
an image of the tree was found imprint
ed on her body. In another instance a
I,o,- olinnhod a troo To rtonl a hird,s mast .