New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-01-01
SOME FREAKS OF LIGHTNING.
PUZZLES THAT THE WEATHER BUREAU
Is CONSIDERING.
A UNIFORM DEATH RATE-CLoBULAR LIGHTNING
GLASS MADE OF FUSED sAND-CITiEs IN
LESS Peril. THAN FORMERLY

From The Hartford Times
The Weather Bureau has been doing a lot OF
specializing of late on the subject OF lightning.
It's experts have made up the figures for the
last year and they find that during that PERIOD
3d. people were killed BY the dreaded i'uid IN
this country This tWenty-O deaths IN
excess of the previous twelvemonth Oddly
enough the mortality from llghtnlnS-stroke
averages 50 evenly that just about so many
persons annually destroyed in this way
In any three successive years there VIII be
few over a thousand fatal cases OF course,
many individuals are struck and do not die
Recently an investigation was made by Clark
University Of the causes which excite fear in
human beings No fewer than LOO persons
were examined the subject. and they ac-
knowledged a great variety Of things they were
afraid Of These things were 29S IN number.
and lightning led them all 1t appeared. in
word that lightning was the chief cause of
fear though it noted that individuals from
tornado regions put the funnel cloud first
Now. the Investigations of the Weather Blu
reau prove that there is reasonable ground
for this widespread fear of lightning. Taking
the figures as given for the last year IT would
appear that the chance that any individual will
be killed by a thunderbolt during the next
twelvemonth is only one IN l9O.Goi. Ones
prospect Of dying by the kick Of a horse Is
about % per cent greater In New-fork city
alone 200 people are drowned. 100 are burned
or scalded TO death. and 10 come TO an UNI
timely end by falls IN every year. It IS inter-
esting 70 compare these figures with the NOR
tally for the whole Of the United states from
lightning.
out of every three persons struck by light
ming two survive ana recover. The amount of
electricity in thunderbot is not great. the ex-
perts say but the voltage * extremely high.
and that is what does the damage. 1t is rather
remarkable that so little should be known as
10 the nature Of a fluid which is in such COM
mon and everyday Nowadays il would
be almost az easy to get along without water
as without electricity yet the fluid is still
called the mysterious" inasmuch as its char
icter and properties are to 4 great extent I'M
known. The latest and best accepted theory /
IF the subject Is that. like light. ii is a form of
notion.
But what puzzles the experts most is to dis |
over the nature Of the balls # electricity which |
ire constantly cutting up strange capers. one |
'annot point to such a thing and say. ON. /
lont you know that IL only form Of notion" |
Sometimes these lightning balls enter dwellings, |
md explode. Great numbers Of them were |
een playing about in Louisville during the |
ornado a few years ago. and now and then
hey would burst with deafening reports Fire
,als o: iris description though not properly
o termed. have been produced recently by arti-
ce in Germany. by charging masses Of vapor
With electricity.
WHAT ARE ELECTRIC BALLS
arity. electric balls are frequently seen. APP
arently. they represent A very highly con-
ensed form Of electricity. This is sufficiently
hown by the violence with which they ex-
lode. But what causes the condensation? /
Il what sort of consistency are they? And why
o they burst 1t is easy enough to say that
is a form Of motion. but in this form
seems TO have actual substances Suppose
nat one could imprson such a ball. what
ould happen then or what night BE- done with
d?
II has often been supposed that the Jack-o'-
intern was an electrical phenomenon more or
IS similar TO the lightning ball. This is not
-ue at all The pickering flames and dancing
als Of fire seen on OCCASIONS in marshy places,
nd often attributed to supernatural causes,
re probably due 90 the slow oxidation Of gases
obtaining some combination Of phosphorus
uch gases generated by the decomposition
organic matter. The Jack y lantern Is very