The Washington bee., 1899-06-17

Facts and SpeculatioIis About Celestial Ar
tillery-Some Curious Performances in
Which the Dreaded Fluid Has INDUCED
Value of Lightning Rods.
The weather bureau has been doing
lot of specializing of late on the sub
ject of lightning.
Ont of every three persons struck by
lightning two survive and recover. The
amount of electricity in a thunderbolt
is not very great the experts say but its
voltage is extremely high, and that is
what does the damage. 1t is rather
remarkable that so little should be
known as ta the pature of the fluid
which is in such common and everyday
use. Nowadays it would be. as easy
to get along without water as without
electricity, yet the fluid is still called
the mysterious" inasmuch as it's
character and properties are to great
extent unknown. The latest and the
best accepted theory on the subject IS
that, like light, it is a form of motion.
But what puzzles the experts
most is to discover the nature OF the
balls of electricity which are con-
stantly cutting UP strange capers-
Fireballs of this description, though
not properly so termed. have been
produced artificially in Germany, by
charging masses of vapOr with cleo
tricity. Soon after the famous expert
ments of Franklin with kite, inveSti-
gators in various parts of the world
initiated his performance. One of
these was Prof. Richman. we'll
known scientist of st. Petersburg. He
succeeded in drawing the lightning in
to his laboratory, but the result was
unfortunate, inasmuch as a fiery ball
as big as a mans fist suddenly ap-
peared in the room, leaped from the
insulated conductor to his head and
killed him. The occurrence was de-
scribed by an assistant, who stated
that the ball was blue.
In recent years there has arisen a
serious doubt as to the value of light
ming rods. This distrust has arisen
probably from the fact that buildings
provided with lightning rods have on
many occasions been destroyed. After
all, the lightning rod is only con-
ductor, and is able to carry only a
certain amount of he electric fluid. If
an avalanche of electricity comes it
may overflow, like 9 torrent that over
flows the banks of the channel de-
signed for it. and the result is disaster.
One of the best evidences of the
value of lightning rods up to date has
been afforded by the Washington mOnu-
ment. 1t is capped by a small four
sided pyramid of aluminium, which
metal, so cheap to-day, was very costly
at the time of the building of the
greatest Obelisk that the world has
ever known. This aluminium tip is con-
nected with the ground by four copper
rods which go down deep into the
earth. On April 3. 1885, five immense
bolts of electricity were seen to flash
between the monument and a thunder
cloud oyerhanging in the course of
twenty minutes. In other words. the
monument was struck fiercely five
times, but it suffered no damage what
ever. On June 10. of the same year. a
more tremendous assault was made
upon the monument from the heavens,
and the result was fracture of one of
the topmost stones. The crack still re-
mains to show what nature can do in
the way of an electric shock. but the
slightness of the damage is evidence of
pO"tt W EIOtttI IIplLl
sucn attacks. The Obelisk is ideally
located for attracting electrical as
saults from the skies, and yet, while
many times hit. it has suffered only
once, and that time to a trifling extent.
In old times vessels used often to be
struck by lightning and the loss by
that cause was very great. From 1870
to 1910 no fewer than $50 ships of the
British navy were struck, 100 men be-
ing killed and $50 injured. Nowadays
warShips. as we'll as big merchant YES
sells. have lightning rods running down
their masts and into the sea so that
the electricity is carried Off In these
days nobody hears Of the destruction
of vessel by lightning. Churches are
the buildings most commonly struck
There is record of certain church in
Carinthia which was hit by lightning
four or five times a year on an average
the services being stopped in summer
on this account. \ rod was put on the
steeple and there was no more trouble.