Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-10-19
THREE MILLION HORSE POWER.
About the Amount of Force Containe
In ga Bolt of Lightning"

About the Amount of Force Contained
In ga Bolt of Lightning"
1t has been stated that the electromo-
tive force developed by bolt of light
ming" of the regulation size was $500 900
volts. the current about 100000 amperas
and the time of discharge about 10 900
part of a second. There is no way Of
measuring the extraordinary amount Of
energy thus developed so as to give It in
figures that would be correct beyond all
question, but ii il regarded by the Boston
Transcript as worthy of remark that the
best scientists and electricians say that 1t
is not less than 2,41o.OOO0O0 watts which
would be equal to a stroke of 3,esI, 1S2 horse
power, comparatively clear explanation
of the cause Of the death from lightning
stroke Is from the pen of one of the best
electricians of the day: THE cause of
death by lightning is the sudden absorption
of the electric current. When thunder
cloud which is highly charged with positive
electricity hangs over q certain place the
earth beneath 1t becomes abnormally charg-
ed with the negative electric current, and
the man, animal or other object standing
or lying directly beneath also partakes of
the last mentioned influence. II. while the
man, animal or other object Is in this con-
dition. a discharge takes place from the
cloud above. the restoration of the equilib-
rum Will be sudden and violent; or, in
language that we can all understand, the
negative current from the earth will rush
up to join the positive cloud current and in
passing through the object which separates
the two currents, If it be an animate being
will do so with such force as to almost in
variabl; produce instant DEATH
According to the above. which seems a
is really struck by the ground current
and not by the forked fury from above. In
this connection IL may be stated that Dr.
Macaulay, an able naval surgeon of last
century education. has left on record the
history of a man who. struck down on
deck by lightning and being entirely in
sensible. was brought to consciousness and
recovery by the rapid abstraction of over
forty ounces of blood. An experiment of
another kind bears directly upon the value
of the remedy in such cases. In expert
menting with the great induction coil at
the old Polytechnic scientist tried to kill
large animals-sheep-painl by an cleo
trical discharge derived from Leyden
battery set ''in cascade" and presenting
ninety-six feet of surface. This shock is
practically identical with the fatal intense
shock of lightning. and by passing 1t once
through the body of a sheep it rendered the
animal instantaneously unconscious. to all
appearance dead. and, as / found by one
line of experiment, the animals as soon as
they were stricken were removed by the
butcher. and were subjected to division of
the vessels of the neck in the usual manner
of killing in the slaughter-house. At irst
blood flowed very slowly from the opera
ton, but in short time the current be-
came freer, and. as ii became free, the phe-
nomena of active life previously suspended
in the animals, returned. There was, for a
moment or two. return of consciousness, of
motion, OF struggle and those proofs If life
that an animal passes through. previous to
CONFUSION. when 1t is submitted to slaughter
without shock. If we connect the expert
ence of those Of our predecessors who have
successfully employed bloodletting for the
cure of lightning stroke with the experi-
mental facts here adduced, the inference is.
as far as inference can be, that bloodlet-
ting Is the remedy for the effects of the
shock of lightning. experiment. equally with
experience, becoming of clinical value