The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-09-08
oRouNDLEss FEAR OF LIGHTNING.
The Electric Bolt Frightens Many, Hits
Few, and Kills Still Fewer.
(From the Electrical Engineer. J

(E'rom the Electrical Engineer
A curl ent news item gives the results
of an investigation carried out by DR.. G.
Stanley Hall, President of Clark Univer-
sity, on the things that most excite fear
in people. OF the 29S classes of objects
of fear to which 1,707 persons confessed,
thunder. and lightning led all the rest,
although in certain localities, as, for in
stance, those subject to cyclones. &C., the
fear of the latter predominates. 1t may
be accepted as probably true that thunder
storms constitute the most pronounced
source of fear with the majority OF peo-
pie, due, no doubt, to the always i'm
pressive and not infrequently overpower.
ing nature of the phenomenon. But is
there any justification in fact for this
fear so far as fatal results are concerned?
We believe there is not, but on the con-
trary, that many other causes which
barely have place in DR.. Halls list are
infinitely more entitled to the distinc-
ton as fear producers than lightning.
AS proof of this we may cite statistics
These show that for the four years 1S90-9a
the deaths from lightning numbered 784,
or an average of 1876 a year. Again, HI.
f. Kretzer of ST. Louis found from the
record of nearly 200 newspapers that for
the five years 1Se3-8S there were 1,O3C
deaths caused by lightning, or an aver
age of 206 a year. We doubt whether, of
the number Of deaths clasSed as "acci-
dental'' in the whole United States, any
one group can show so small number.
In New York city alone over 200 people
are drowned every year, while nearly 15C
are burned or scalded to death, and Gloss
onto 500 persons meet their end by falls
of one kind or another. Comparing the
record of 200 lightning fatalities for the
whole country with the above records for
New York city, with its total of nearly
1 500 accidental deaths every year, it will
be seen how groundless is the popular
fear of lightning. 1t is a survival, an
inherited supe rstition.
But there is another point in connec-
ton with this matter which ought to be
particularly comforting to city dwellers
albeit country jewellers may not be affect
ed in like manner. and that is, that
statistics show that the risk of lightning
is five times greater in the country than
in the city. The cause of this immunity
IOr clUy QWSll6rS is not lar TO seek. Ii IS
doubtless due to the predominance of
metal roofs, the we'll gro unded water
pipes in houses, and probably as much as
anything to the protective network of
overhead electric wires of all kinds. The
popular belief that stroke of lightning
is invariably fatal is also not borne out
by facts. Indeed, one record specially
devoted to this feature shows that of 2l2
persons struck, only "a were killed. TAX
ing it all in all, there seems to be no
more groundless popular fear than that
of lightning. Indeed, if one can go by
statistics, the risk of meeting death by
horse kick in New York is over 90 per
cent greater than that of death by. light
ming.
Yet with all the weight of statistics
against it's deadliness, lightning will
probably continue to scare people as here
tofore. Perhaps, after all, there may be
Il more direct cause than the mere
psychological one usually ascribed to it,
and that is the fact that many people of
nervous temperament are affected hours
before the approach of a thunder storm
and thus rendered particularly powerless
to stand the strain which more or less
affects the most phlegmatic natures dur
ing disturbance in the heavens.