The Monmouth inquirer., 1898-03-03
FEAR OF LIGHTNING.
The Electric Bolt Trightens Many. Hits
Few and Kills still Fewer.

A current news item gives the re-
suits of an investigation carried out BY
DR.. G. Stanley Hall, president Of Clark
university, on the things that most ex-
cite fear in people OF the 298 classes
of objects of fear to which 1,707 per-
sons confessed, thunder and lightning
led all the rest, although in certain To-
calities, as, for instance, those subject
to cyclones, ETC., the fear of the latter
predominates. 1t may be accepted as
probably true that thunder storms con.
stitute the most pronounced source OF
fear with the majority of people, due,
no doubt, to the always impressive and
not infrequently oyerpowerfng 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
contrary, that many other causes which
barely have place in DR. Halls list
are infinitely more entitled to the dis
tinction as fear producers than light
ming, says the Electrical Engineer. AS
proof of this we may cite statistics Of
the United States Weather Bureau.
These show that for the four years
1890-1S93 the deaths from lightning
numbered 7S4, or an average of 1876 o
year. Again. H. F. Kretzer, of st
Louis, found from the record of nearly
200 newspapers that for the five years
1S83-1888 there were LOGO deaths
caused by lightning, or an average Of
206 year. We doubt whether of the
number. of deaths cIassed as 'acciden-
tai in the whole United States, any
one group can show so small a number
In New York city alone over 200 people
are drowned every year, while nearly
$50 are burned or. 6calded to death, and
close on to 500 Isrsons meet their end
by falls of one kind or. another. Com
pairing the record of 200 lightning ia
talities for the whole country with the
above records for New York city, with
its total of nearly 1900 accidental
deaths every year. it will be seen how
groundless is the popular fear of light
ming. 1t. is survival, an inherited SUI
perstition.
But there is another point in connec-
tion with this matter which ought to
be particularly comforting to city
dwellers, albeit country dwelIers may
not be affected in like manner. and
bAdt 10, lndl otdlAotA(O clOW LtAr<L LAlC
risk of lightning is five times greater
in he country than in he city. The
cause of this immunity for city dwellers
is not far to seek 1t is doubtless due
to the predominance of metal roofs.
the well-grounded water pipes in
houses, and probably as much as any
thing 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 212 persons struck, seventy
four were killed. Taking itsaIl 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 fifty per cent
greater than that Of death by lightning
Yet with all the weight of statistics
against its deadliness, lightning will
probably continue to scare people as
heretofore