The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1893-09-14
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FREAKS or LIGHTNING.


-
fnEA,<s or LIGHTNING.
seka.6 3AoseGEeDAs, Aa9nstisane- -
ead ilayiae OtAer Rr.aks.
Tho Etruscans Of old believed I'm
Snree kinds Of lightning-one incauable
o. doing any injury, smother more mis-
chievous in it, character and con.a.
quently only to DO issued with the con.
sent OF quorum of twelve gods, and
= third carrying mischief in its train.
and for which . regular decree WA. re-
quired from the highest divinity in
the Estrusoan skies. Curiously enough.
modern scientists, following tbs lead
taken by Arago, have also decreed that
the varieties Of lightning are threefold.
The hrst comprehends that in which
the discharge appears like long lum-
inous line, bent into angles and Zig
s.ga' and varying in complexion from
white to blue, purple or red.
This kind is known as forked
lightning, because it sometimes d.
vldes into two or more branches
before reaching the earth. The
second differs from the first in
the range of surface over which the
flash is diffused. From this circum-
stance the discharge is designated sheet
lightning. The third class differ SO
widely from the more ordinary mani
festations that many meteonolopists
have denied their right to be treated as
legitimate lightnings. They neither
assume the form of long lines on the
one hand nor sheets of flame on the
other, but exhibit themselves as balls
or globular Jumps of fire.
A singular story is told concerning
the vagaries of one mass of globe light
ming. A tailor in the Rue St. Jacques,
In the neighborhood of the Val de
Grace, was getting his dinner one day
during thunder storm, when he heard
loud clap. and soon the chimney
board fell down and a globe of fire as
big as child's head came out quietly
and moved slowly about the room at a
small height above the floor. The
spectator, in conversation afterward
with NJ. Rabinet of the Academic des
Sciences, said it looked like a good
sized kitten rolled up into a ball and
moving without showing its paws 1t
was bright and shining, yet he felt no
sensation of heat The globe came
near his feet, but by moving them aside
he avoided the contact. After trying
several excursions in different direc-
tons it rose vertically to the height of
his head-which he drew back to pre-
vent it touching him-steered toward a
hole in the chimney above the mantel-
piece, and made its way into the flue.
Shortly afterward-"when l supposed
it had had time to reach the top" the
tailor said-there was terrible explo-
sion, which destroyed the upper part Of
the chimney and threw the fragments
on to the roofs of some adjoining build
ings, which they broke through. In
the forest of Nemours Il Tree was once
struck. Two pieces were rent from its
trunk. The smaller was tossed to a
distance of fifty feet, and the larger,
which eighteen men could not move, to
. distance of twenty feet or so in an OPP
posite tack. In 1888 the topgallant-
mast of H. NJ S. Rodney was hit by a
fash and literally cut up into chips,
the sea being strewn with the frag-
ments as if the carpenters had been
sweeping their shavings overheard
Shortly before the topmasts of II. NJ.
s. Hyacinthe had suffered in a similar
manner, and when the Thetis under
went q like visitation in Rio harbor,
Capt. Fitzroy described the foretop-
mast, as "a mere collection of long
splinters, almost like reeds"
These are few of the examples of
the mechanical effects of lightning. 1t
works chemically as we'll 1t has the
power of developing q peculiar odor,
which has been variously compared to
that of PHOSPHORUS, nitrous gas, and
most frequently burning sulphur. Wafen
mentions storm on the Isthmus of
Darien which diffused such sulphur
Gus stencil through the atmosphere
that he and his marauding companions
could scarcely breathe, particularly
when they plunged into the wood.
The magnetic effects produced are
cften very curious. A chest con-
tanning large assortment of knives,
forks, and other cutlery was, not
many years ago, struck in the house
of Wakefield tradesman, and magnet
ism impaired to the whole of the arti-
cles. Arago, in his meteorological
Essays" speaks of shoemaker in
Swadia whose tools were thus treated,
to his indescribable annoyance. He
had to be constantly freeing his ham,
mer, pincers, and knife from his nails,
needles, and avis, which were con-
stantly getting caught by them as they
lay together on the bench" The same
authority knew Of a GenOese shin that
was wrecked near Algiers in conse-
quence of some pranks played by light
ming among the compasses, the captain
innocently supposing that he was sail
ing toward the north, when, as mat
ter of fact, he was steering due south.
Chambers Journal
THE FASHIONS.