The Penn's Grove record., 1896-07-24
LIaHTNlNe's QUEER FREAKS.
Unexpected Results of Many Strokes
of the Electric Fluid.

of the Electrtc Fluid.
Few natural phenomena show sc
many eccentricitles Of behavior as
Jove's thundeTbolts. Machine-made
electricity. especially when playing the
truant. is tricky enough, but the fiery
product Of the clouds is still more orig
inal, Inconsistent and lawless. In
small towns, or in the outskirts OF
large ones, where the houses are de-
tached from one another, and are so
or 100 feet apart, n frequently hears
Of damage by lightning; 1t is seldom
a row Of brownstone fronted buildings,
a block of stores. a f1fteon or twenty
story apartment house, or a sky-scraper
Office building, in those portions Of a
city which are built up solidly, is hurt
In any way.
SO long has this state OF affairs ex-
isted and been recognized that 1t has
affected the business OF making and
erecting lightning rods. If a man
should Institute a special search for
such apparatus in the older part of
the metropolis, with an opera-glass in
his hand and a high window or roof
for his post of observation, he might
well ask whether the lightning rod
has not become. like the dodo, an eX-
tinct species. Eventually, a few tall,
slender church spires and certain class
es Of buildings under the control of
federal or municipal bureaus would
he found displaying metallic bristles,
connected by a copper cable with the
ground.
But these and the few other discoy-
cradle exceptions would only serve to
emphaslze the rule. Inquiry reveals,
however, that an extensive business
In lightning rods Is still carried OF
They are seen as frequently as ever in
small towns and on farms. Occasion
ally, vol will hear OF a man who has
a house and big warehouses In the
city which are not provided with these
safeguards, but who employs them
a~bundantly on his country house and
barns. 1t Is said that Mr.. Edison
and Mr.. Westinghouse. who are sup
posed to know a thing or two about
electricity, protect their houses and
SllUpS WHICH are lSOlultu tuCtult N III
this way; and weather bureau ex-
perts and other scientists who have in
v~estlgated the subject declare that Il
properly constructed lightning rod has
a distinct value. 1t is clear, therefore,
that this time honored institution Is
cities.
The singular Indifference which the
lightning seems TO manifest toward
great centers of population Is proba-
bly, not due to the nOuConducting quail
ties of the brick and stone so largely
used there in the construction of build.
ings. On the other hand, most of the
theories advanced to account for the
puzZling phenomenon In question as
sumo that. In some way or other, bet
ter facilities exist in and near great
cities than elsewhere for relieving a
thunder cloud of the superabundant
electricity and leading the same quietly
to the earth. The vast number of chin
neys, fiagstaffs, spires and other up
ward projections from the roofs. espe-
cially when well wetted, facilitate n
silent discharge in innumerable small
streams. The complicated network Of
telegraph and telephone wires reach
ing through the streets, high in air,
has also been credited with dissem-
mating a good deal of electricity dur
ing thunderstorms. A third factor in
the situation may possibly be found
in the steel frames of some of the mod
ern high buildings. Certainly, If the
metallic portions of the roof of one
Of these structures were properly con
nected with the frame, and If the lat
ter reached down into permanently
moist soil, the combination would af,
ford a lightning rod of exceptional
efficiency and proportions. Distribute
the credit among the various agents
as one may, there is evidently a set
Of conditions existing in large cities
which tend to lessen the violence of
lightning there, and which appreciably
affects the demand for lightning rods,