The St. Johns herald., 1896-08-22
LIGHTNlNG'S QUEER FREAKS.
Unexpected Results of Many Strokes
 of the Electric Fluid.

Unexpected Results of Many Strokes
 of the Electric Fluid.
 Few natural phenomena show so
 many eccentricities of behavior as
 Joye's thunderbolts. 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 50
 or 100 feet apart, one frequently hears
 of damage by lightning; it is seldom
 a row of brownstone fronted buildings.
 story apartment house, or a sky-scraper
 office building, in those portions of &
 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 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
 we'll 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 be found displaying metallic bristles, connected by . copper cable with the ground.
 But these and the few other discov- erable exceptions would only serve to emphasize the rule. Inquiry reveals, however, that an extensive business in lightning rods is still carried on. They are seen as frequently as ever in small towns and on farms. Occasion ally, you will hear of man who has a house and big warehouses in the city which are not provided with these safeguards, but who employs them abundantly on his country house and stock barns. It is said that Mir. Edison and MT. Westinghouse, who are SUD- posed to know thing or two about electricity, protect their houses and shops which are isolated structures in this way; and weather bureau ex- pertS and other scientists who have in- vestigated the subject declare that a properly constructed lightning rod has a distinct value. It is clear, therefore, that this time-honOred institution is not going out of favor except in big cities.
 The singular indifference which the seems to manifest toward great centers of population is proba- ply not due to the nonconducting Qual- ities 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- sume 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 and leading the same quietly lO luC 4uG NdSJ O1 neys, fagstaffs, spires and other up- ward projections from the roofs, espe- cially when we'll wetted, facilitate a 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 disseui- 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 1 ern high buildings. Certainly, if the ! portions of the roof of one of these structures were properly con- nected with the frame, and If the lat 1 ter reached down into permanently | moist soil, the combination would af- l ford a lightning rod of exceptional l efficiency and proportions. Distribute he credit among the various agents | IS 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.