Semi=weekly graphic., 1899-06-14
LIGHTNING A PUZZLE
NO REASONABLE GROUND FOR THE
 GENERAL FEAR gNTeRTAINED.i--

Facts and SpecuIations About Celestial Ar
 tilIery-some Curious Performances In
 Which the Dreaded Fluid Has Indulge6
 Value of Lightning Rods.
 The weather bureau has been doing s lot of speculating 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 thunderbols Is not very great the experts say but it's voltage is extremely high, and that IS what does the damage. It is rather remarkable that so little should be known as to the nature 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, inasmueh as its character and properties are to great extent unknown. The latest and the best accepted theory on the subject is that, like light, it is form of motion.
 But what puzzles the experts most is to discover the nature of tue balls of electricity which are con- stantly cutting up strange capers. Fireballs of this description, though not properly so termed, have been produced artifeially in Germany, by charging masses of vapor with elec- trieity Soon after the famous expert ments of Franklin with kite, inyesti- gators in various parts of the world initiated his performance. One of these was Prof. Riehman, a we'll known scientist of St. Petersburg. He succeeded in drawing the lightning in to his laboratory, but the result was unfortunate, inasmuch as fiery ball as big as q mans fist suddenly ap- peared in the room, leaped from the insulated conductor to his head and killed him. The occurrence was de- seribed by m assistant who stated that the ball was blue.
 In recent years there has arisen q 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 OH many occasions been destroyed. After all, the lightning rod is only q con ductor, and is able to carry only a certain amount of the electric fluid. If an avalanche of electricity comes it may overflow, like a torrent that over flows the banks of the channel de- t.
 One of the best evidences of the value of lightning rods up to date has been afforded by the Washington monu- ment. It is capped by 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.
 
 rods which go down deep into the earth. On April 5, 1885, five immense bolts Of electricity were seen to fash between the monument and a thunder cloud oyerhanging in the course of twenty minutes. Tn other words, the monument was struck fierrely five times, but it suffered no damage what ever. On June 15, of the same year, a more tremendous assault was made upon the monument from the heavens, and the result was 8 fracture of one of the topmoSt stones. The crack still re. mains to show whst nature can do in the way of an electric shock. but the slightnesS of the damage is evidence of mans power to protect himself from such attacks. The obelisk is ideally located for attracting electrical as- pAu4LS HUH l4C ct1ESs dQdz YGt, WullH many times hit, 1t has suffered only once, and that time to trifiing extent.
 Tn old times vessels used often to be struck by lightning and the loss by that cause was very great From 1790 to 1840 no fewer than 280 ships of the British navy were struck, 100 men be- ing killed and 250 injured. Nowadays warships, as we'll as big merchant yes-
 
 their masts and into the sea so that the electricity is carried off Tn 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 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.