The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-08-30
"Oh {! father is .dead!"

and sky seemed to be IN q, Dla2e, DE
also became conscious of the most intense
suffering, and especially il his lowe,
limbs. He says the pain was like that OF
a burn, and that he could not have suf-
fered more from what followed if he had
been held in the flames.
His wife and daughter. upon seeing
that he was still alive, desired to remove
him to the house, but he begged to be
left where be was, and not to be dis
turbed, as he felt that he could live bata
few minutes, and that he might as well
die there as to be put to the needless tor.
ture of removal. As he seemed to- gain
strength, however, he was soon taken tc
the house and made as comfortable a.
possible, but eight or ten hours elapsed
before he was able to move either Of hi:
.lowerlimbs. The left hip and leg seemed
to be more affected than the right, aud
the symptoms for a time indicated that
the bones were injured. Butthese soor
passed away. The mark of the Lightning
was apparent from the shoulders to the
calf of the right leg, in the shape of 8
broad, irregular strip, from which the
skin peeled off as though it had beer
scalded.
The New York Medical Journal had an
interesting paper few years ago on the
physiological effects of-lightning, from
which we gather some facts touching the
great and consuming heat of this invisi-
BILE agency.
"a thunderbolt has been seen," say'
the writer, Ito split tree without ever
blackening it while it reduced to ashes
shepherd who had taken refuge under it
branches"
Able Richard says of another incident
"One man alone was killed and almost
reduced to dust, in the midst of many
others who we're under the same tree"
"The most curious as we'll as the mos
recent instance is the following: "a
Viscur, Aisne, in 1888, q thunderbol
struck lime tree, under which three sol
diers had taken shelter; they were al
killed at the same instant; still, although
lifeless, the three remained erect, as i
the electric fluid had not reached them
their clothing also appearing uninj jured
But when they we're touched they all fel
80 it is said-into heap of ashes"
These are remarkable incidents, bu
the Medical Journal regards them as suf
ficiently we'll authenticated to illustrate
the intensity of the heat of this element
Some opinions have been advanced BY
physicists touching the nature of thi
heat. Colonne says:
'The FIRE of exhalation which forms th'
tbunderbolt must be 80 subtle and pene
trating that it kills man by drying in
simultaneously all his humors, without il
the least changing his figure. We do no
perceive him dead until we touch him
and then we see him fall to dust"
Groberg says:
cit is demonstrated that lightning re-
duces bones to ashes, but never to tht
state of fusion"
Able Man says:
Lightning reduces to ashes all part
of the human body without altering the
clothes or the skim" ~
Besides the complete incineration O
persons or of bone, and of the trees struck
by lightning, it has also been found, ae
cording to incidents cited by the Nedioa
Journal, that some inorganic bodies have
been treated in like manner under the
powerful heat Of lightning, such as the
following: a lady's bonnot, q mans shoe
except the wooden sole; panes Of glass
in windows; a cloth covering shields
which were fused; a purse, the gold and
silver which it contained not being dam
aged; the scabbard rof a sword q large
beam reduced to dust in the middle of
chamber closed and fastened on all sides
without any injury to the chamber; the
wood of cask destroyed by lightning
etc. ... as
Strange as it may appear, this elemen,
possesses a power the reverse Of heat
General Comte de Msistre informs DR.
Boudin that some Sandman sailors killed
by lightning in the Mediterranean, pre-
scented all the signs of death by freezing
"This observation is the more remark
able" adds DR.. Boudin, "as it recalls the
Icongealation of wine long ago noticed by
the ancients."
On man struck by lightning toward
the back. of the head, there could be
found neither fracture nor fissure, nor YET
IAN alteration in any other part of the
skull. The brain was also very sound
there being alone at the superior par!
congealed lymph, which had infiltrated
into the folds of the pia mater. The
young man thus killed remained in the
position he was at the time the thunder.
bolt struck him.
It is remarkable that this element
should produce intense heat or freezing
cold; that it should kill in one instance
without leaving any mark Of its power
and in. another that it should consume
to ashes. Will this mystery ever be
solved?
4, AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY,"