The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-09-28

81 Weather Bureau na0 oeon uoine 'o'
:, circulating Of late ON the subject
I,r,btning. It's experts have made
M ,bs figures for last year, and they
VI " that during that period 1862 peo-
Nv ~ we're killed by the dreadful fluid
r. his country. This was twenty
:. deaths in excess of the previous
yr. ys,remonth. Oddly enough, the
.,.lity from lightningS.stroke aver
m - 50 evenly that just about SO many
s,.Ous annually are destroyed in this
r,r In any three successive years
.bsre will be few over thousand
q t.,,l eases. Of course, many individ-
81 .,ls are struck and do not die.
Recently an investigation was made
,r clark University of the causes
shich excite fear in human beings.
q "a fewer than 1,7O7 persons were ex-
,uiued on the subject, and they
,,kuoyledged great variety of things
81 ,bev we're afraid Of. These things
we're 29s in number, and lightning led
81 them all. 1t appeared, in a word,
hat lightning was the chief cause Of
S fear, though it was noted that indi-
81 yiduals from tornado regions put the
. funnel cloud first.
Now the investigation Of the
Weather bureau proves that there is
s. no reasonable ground for this wide
spread fear Of lightning. Taking the
8 figures as given for the last year, it
81 would appear that the chance that
q auy individual will be killed by
! thunderbolt during the next twelve
month is one in 19O,607. Ones pros
vect Of dying by the kick of horse
q is about so per cent greater. In New
/ York city alone 200 people are drown
81 ed, 15O are burned or scalded to death,
& and 500 come to an untimely end by
falls in every year. It is interesting
to compare these figures with the
mortality for the whole Of the United
States from lightning.
Out Of every three persons struck
by lightning two survive and recover.
& The amount Of electricity in thunder
4 bolt is not very great, the experts
say; but the voltage is extremely high,
and that is what does the damage. It
ais rather remarkable that 80 little
IL should be known as to the nature Of q
fluid which is in such common and
everyday use. Nowadays it would be
& almost as easy to get along without
electricity, yet the fluid is still called
4 the mysterious" inasmuch as its
character and properties are to great
= extent unknown. The latest and best
4 accepted theory on the subject is that,
i like light, it is form Of motion.
But what puzzles the experts most
is to discover the nature Of the balls
Il q 9! electricity which are constantly
cutting up strange capers. One can
= not point to such a thing and say !:
"Oh, don't you know, that is only a
form Of motion" Sometimes these
8 lightning balls enter dwellings and
3 explode. Great numbers of them
4 we're seen playing about Louisville
during the tornado Of a few years ago,
& and now and then they will burst with
deafning reports. Fireballs of this
= description, though not properly so
termed, have been produced recently
a0y artihce in Germany, by charging
masses ofvapor with electricity Soon
Alter the famous experiments of
y y rankin sith e kiso ysst;gatogs in
q various parts Of the world initiated
a MS performance. One Of these was
ar'0f. Richman, a we'll known scien-
ustofSt. Petersburg. He succeeded
an drawing the lightning into his
lhOratory, but the result was unfortu-
'ate lnasmuch as fiery ball as big
Isl mans fist suddenly appeared in
4 @e room, lesped from the insulated
sOndncsor to his head and KILLED him.
y iae occurrence was described by al
|ablue.
Now, the weather bureau would
aSe large reward to anybody who
2as00ld tell what was the nature Of that
Sa0ae ball. Phenomena Of this kind
a'e oy no means rarity; electric balls
se frequently seen. Apparently,
~ lucy represent q very highly con-
q aensed form Of electricity. This is
'enclently shown by the, violence
sl'n which they explode. Blu. what
''uses the condensatiou.2 It is easy
,a0ogh to say that electricity is a
0m OF motion, but in this form il
.ssms to have actual substance. Sup
'ayse VS. that one could imprison such q
s.ll;; what would happen then, or
'aat might be done Mish il Z
"A Ihe Weatbar t,,n.,, y. x T.,