The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-08-26

Upon opening his eyes, the whole air
and sky seemed to be in blaze. He
also became conscious of the most intense
suffering, and especially in his lower
limbs. He says the. pain was like that
of q burn, and that he could not have
suffered moretrom 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 he was, and not TO be dis
turbed, las he felt that he could live but
few minutes, and that he might as well
die there as to be put to tic needless
torture of removal. As he seemed to
gain strength, however, he was soon ta-
ken to the house and made as comforta'
BILE as possible, but eight or ten hours
elapsed before he was able to move either
of his lower limbs; The left hip and leg
seemed to be more affected than the right,
and the symptoms for time indicated
that the bones were injured. But these
soon passed away. The mark of the
lightning vas apparent from the shoul-
ders to the calf of the right leg, in the
shape of q broad, irregular strip, from
which the skin peeled off rs though it
had been 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 touch
ing the great and consuming heat of this
invisible agency.
ga thunderbolt has been seen," says
the writer, "to split tree without even
blackening it while it reduced to ashes
shepherd who had taken refuge under its
branches"
Able Richard says Of another Incl
dent: Gone man alone was killed and
almost reduced to dust, in the midst of
many others who were under the same
tree"
sThe most curious as well as the most
recent instance is the following: SAT
Viscur, Aisne, in 1888, a thunderbolt
struck a lime tree, under which three
soldiers had taken shelter; they were all
killed at the same instant; still although
lifeless, the three remained erect, as if
the electric fluid had not reached them,
their clothing also appearing uniDjured:
But when they we're touched they all fell
so it is said-into heap of ashes.",
These are remarkable incidents, but
the Medical journal regards them as suf-
ficiently we'll authenticated 10 illustrate
the intensity of the heat of this element.
Some opinions have been advanced by
physicists touching the nature of this
heat. Colonne says:
"The fire of exhalation which forms
the thunderbolt must be so subtle and
penetrating that it kills q man by drying
instantaneously all his humors, without
in the least changing his figure. We do
not 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 The
state of fusion"
Able Man says:
lightning reduces to ashes all parts
of the human body without altering the
Clothes or the skim"
Besides the complete incineration of
persons or Of bone, and of the tree struck
by lightning. it has also been found, &C.
cording to incidents cited by the Medi.
cal Journal, that some inorganic bodies
have been treated in like manner under
the powerful heat Of lightning, such as
the following: lady's bonnet, a mans
shoe, except the wooden sole (; panes OF
glass in windows; cloth covering
shields which were fused; purse the
gold and silver which it contained not
being damaged; the scabbard ola sword;
"a large beam reduced to dust in the mid
die ofa chamber; the wood of a cask
destroyed by lightning, etc.
Strange as it may appear, this element
possesses a power the reverse of heat.
General Comte de Maistre informs DR..
Boudin that some Sandman sailors killed
by lightning in the Mediterranean, pre-
sented all the signs of death by freezing.
"This observation is the more remark.
able,n adds DR.. Boudin, "as it recalls the
onSealation 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
an alteration in any other part of the
skull. The brain was also very sound,
there being only atthe superior part con.
gealed lymph, which had infltrated
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
could; that it should kill in one instance
without leaving any mark of its power
and iu another that it should consume 10
ashes. Will this mystery ever be solved ?