Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1893-11-09
THREE MILLION HORSEPOWER.

About the Amount of Force Contained in
ga Bolt of Lightning"
1t has been stated that the cleo
| tromotive force developed by bolt
of lightning of the regulation size was
$780, 600 volts. the current about H.
coo. 900 amperes and the time of dis
charge about leo, 900 part of second.
There is no way of measuring the ex-
| traordinary amount of energy thus
developed SO as to give it in figures that
would be correct beyond all question,
but the best scientists and electricians
say that it is not less than 400. OOO, 900
watts, which would be equal to a
stroke of 3,2s4,1s2 horse power! A
comparatively clear explanation of
the cause of the death from
lightning stroke is from the pen of one
the best electricians of the day: 1.-The
cause of death by lightning is the sud-
den absorption of the electric current.
When a thunder cloud which is highly
chargedwith positive electricity hangs
over a certain place the earth beneath
it becomes abnormally charged with
the negative electric current. and the
man, animal or other object standing
or lying directly beneath also partakes
of the aforementioned influence. If,
while the man, animal, or other object
is in this condition, a discharge takes
place from the cloud above, the restora-
ton of the equilibrium will be sudden
and violent; or. in language that we
can all understand, the negative cur
rent from the earth will rush up to
join the positive cloud current, and in
passing through the object which sepa-
rates the two currents, if it be an ami
mate being, will do SO with such force
as to.almost invariably produce instant
death.
According to the above, which seems
a tenable hypothesis. to say the least,
a fellow is really "struck" by the
ground current and not by the forked
fury from above. In this connection it
may be stated that DIR. Macaulay, an
able naval surgeon of last century edu-
,catiOn, has left on record the history Of
a man who, struck down on deck by
lightning and being entirely insensible,
WAS brought TO consciousness and re-
cowery 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
experimenting with the great induc-
tien coil at the old Polytechnic scien-
tist tried to kill large animals-sheep
-painlessly by an electrical 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 it
once through the body of a sheep
it rendered the animal instanta-
neously unconscious, to all appearance
dead, and, as 1 found by one line
of experiment, actually dead. if moth
ing more were done to 1T. But in an
other line of experiment, the animals,
as soon as they were stricken, were re-
moved by the butcher, and were sub
jected TO division of the vessels of the
neck in the usual manner of killing in
the s}aughter-house. At first blood
flowed very slowly from the operation,
but in short time the current became
freer, and, as it became free, the
phenomena of active life, previously
suspended in the animals, returned.
There was, for moment or two. re-
turn of consciousness, OF motion, of
struggle and those proofs of life that
an animal passes through previous to
convulsion, when it is submitted TO
slaughter without shock If we con-
meet the experience of those of our pre-.
docessors who have successfully en-
ployed ubloodletting for the care of
lightning stroke with the experimental
facts here adduced, the inference is,
as far as inference can be, that blood
letting is the remedy for the effects of
the shock of lightning, experiment..
equally with experience, becoming of
clinical value.-Boston Transcript