The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-01-23
FREAKS OF LIGHTNING.
PUZZLES THE WEATHER. BU-
REAU rs CONSIDERING.


up the figures for the last year, and
they md that during that period 1862
people were killed by the dreaded fluid
in this country. This was p deaths liz
excess of the previous twelve months
Oddly enough, the, mortality from
lightning stroke averages so evenly
that Just about so many persons an
nually are destroyed in this way. In
any three successive years there will
be few over a thousand fatal cases.
|Cf 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 1,707 persons We're exam
ined on 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 It appeared, in word, that light
ming was the chief cause of fear,
though it was noted that individuals
from tornado regions put the funnel
cloud first.
Now, the Investigations of the Wea-
ther Bureau prove that there is no rea-
sonable ground for this widespread fear
of lightning. Taking the figures as
given for the last year. it would APP
pear that the chance that any indi-
vidual will be killed by thunderbolt
during the next twelvemonth is only
one in 19O6O7 Ones prospect of dying.
by the kick of a horse is about 80 per
cent. greater. In New York City alone
200 people are drowned, $50 are burned
or scalded to death, and 80 come to an
| l. Gall IN, dsov
II is interesting to compare these fig
tres 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 thunderbolt
is not great, the experts say; but the
voltage is extremely high, and that is
" hat does the damage. 1t is rather re-
markable that so little should be
known as to the nature of fluid which
ism such common and everyday use
Nowadays it would be almost as easy
to get along without water as without
electricity, yet the fluid Is still called
the mysterious" inasmuch as its char
acter and properties are to a. great ex-
tent unknown. The latest and best ac-
cepted theory of the subject is that,
like light, it is form of motion.
But what puzzles the experts is to
discover the nature Of the balls OF cleo
tric;ty which are constantly cutting up
strange capers. One cannot point to
such thing and say, l"Oh, don't you
know, that is only form of motion
Sometimes these lightning balls enter
dwellings and explode. Great num-
bers of them were seen playing ABOUT
in Louisville during the tornado few
years ago, and now and then they
would burst with deafening reports.
Fireballs of this description, though not
properly so termed, have been pro-
duced recently by artifce in Germany,
by charging masses Of vapor with cleo
tricity.
WHAT ARE ELECTRIC BALLS?
Phenomena of this kind are by no
means a rarity; electric balls are fire.
quently seen. Apparently they repre-
sent very highly condensed form of
electricity. This is Sufficiently shown
by the violence with which they ex-
plode. But what causes the condensa-
ton? OF what sort of consistency are
they? And why do they burst? 1T is
easy enough to say that electricity Is
seems to have actual substance. Sup
pose that one could imprison such
ball: what would happen then, or what
might be done with it?
. X has often been supposed that the
Jack lantern was an electrical phe-
nomenon more or less similar to the
lightning ball. This is not true at all.
The Pickering flames and dancing balls
of fire seen on occasions in marshy
places, and often attributed to super
natural causes, are probably due to
the slow oxidation of gases containing
some combination of phosphorus. Such
gases are generated by the decomposi
ton of organic matter. The Jack-o'-
lantern is very rarely seen in the
United States, by the way owing APP
parently to the fact that the nature of
the soil is not so favorable to the pro-
duction of the phenomenon This is a
matter which has relation to geology,
but there is good deal of doubt on the
subject even yet.
To measure the diameter of light
ming flash would seem to be out of. the
question, and yet it is often done Now
and then lightning strikes a bed of
sand and instantly transforms the sill
lea of the sand into glass, thus making
a tube of exactly its own size Tubes
of glass thus formed are frequently dug
UP, and they have been followed down
into sand as far as thirty feet. It is
not to be supposed that all lightning
flashes have the same diameter and
this is proved by the fact that the glass
tubes made by them, under conditions
such as those described vary IN ,3,or,
eter from the thickness of a Quill to
three inches or more. Thus the sbore''
of the flash varies through a wide
range.
When the famous scientist Won Hum
boldt first looked upon the peaks of the
Nevada de Toluca, in Mexico, he won
dered to what cause might be referred
the strange glitter of the highest rocky
pinnacles in the sunlight. Determined
to investigate the matter, he climbed
the mountain, at much risk to his life.
and found that the rocks on the top
were covered with thin layer of green
glass. They had been struck ever so
many times by lightning, which had
vitrifed the silica of the rocks. Some
times lightning tubes such as those al
ready described are made in solid rock
though of slight depth. On the summit
of Little Ararat, in Armenia. tubes Of
the kind are surprisingly abundant
The material of the rocks there is so
soft and porous that blocks of stone
can be dug out which are perforated in
all directions by little pipes lined with
bottle-green glass;
TARGETS FOR LIGHTNING.
~oo.o