The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1882-07-12
The Deadly Flash.

lative to the extraordinary prevalence of
1urs, great and small. as well a nunieI
GUS singular instances. such a. the disas
Ter to the Confederate soldier at Colum
bia, the killing of the old colored woman
at Greeuville, while she was dressing the
corpse Of her son. and the like.
We have long taken an interest 10 the
subject, aud have felt that the Govern
ment ought to establish a Bureau, es
p~ecially delegated TO visit all parts of the
Union to collect data, and study the
whole field of electrical danger, and the
best methods of meeting it. There is I'D
our judgment not a particle of doubt that
some States, and sections of States, are
more dangerous than others. ST. Peters
the taIlest of church steeples in Rome
has not been hit for 300 years; while
many little houses in the city have per
i.hed. South Carolina, has just had a
dozen fatal bolts within almost the same
number of days. Again, we think, there
are natural features which should be
studied In the location of buildings; par
ticularly lofty dwellings, churches, and
the like. 1t is we'll known that some To-
%calities are dangerously susceptible to
lightning. We have often seen spots in
Western North Carolina where every
tree stood bare-leafed, gnarled, and shat
tered, with the scorch- line twisting down
its trunk. These spots are sometimes
called ''Balds," because all vegetation is
dead. Many of our Eastern and Middle
Carolina readers have seen spots where
half an acre of cotton lay scorched and
blackened, amid surrounding miles OF
level, and green, and blooming fields !.
What drew the blighting flash to that
particular spot? Scientific investigation
would probably discover the secret.
There may be a vast bed of iron, or other
metal, lear the surface of the soil, or a
peculiar complication of earth currents,
or possibly chemical compositions. We
uuhappily have no scientific training but
it is our observation that certain %electri-
cal occurrences are Of sufficient regularity
to warrant study by those who are special
ly equipped for it.
European savants have long given the
subject attention; and some countries
have had commissions to investigate.
In 1864, Boudin presented to the
French Academy of Sciences a table show
ing that in France, during the period Of
80 years, . 23S persons were killed by
lightning, and q. IA struck without be-
ing killed. 1t is thus seen, that, during
each of these years. - persons lost their
lives. and 232 were injured. Among
those struck by lightning, between the
years 1885 and 1852, 81 per cent. were
males, 10 per per cent. females, and %
per cent. unknown. From 1854 to 1868,
% per cent. of females, and 1873 per
cent. OF males, were struck.
At sea the damage done to shipping
has been equally marked. One writer
OdICuidtco VIC IOoS Ny IISltuIug, III uIcdt
Britain, alone, at $3.50, 900 annually; and
Sir William Snow Harris believes that
this estimate is under the mark. During
the FIVE years between 1910 and 1915, the
British Navy lost by lightning no less
than forty sail Of the line, twenty frigates,
and twelve sioops and corvettes. Indeed,
it has been proved beyond all controversy
that, in Europe at least, the danger Of
being killed by lightning is far greater
than the danger Of being killed by a rail
road accident; or, in other words, that
out of the entire population the percen
tage of those killed by lightning is greater
than the percentage of the passengers
who are killed on railroads.
In America, our country is so vast,
and our population as yet so sparse that
the danger is not so marked. But in 50
years the death roll will foot up tens of
thousands annually.