The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1901-10-05
AARNEsslNG JovE's BOLTS.
Protection Against Lightning Still q Field
for Inventors.

Protection Against Lightning Still Field
for Inventors.
A severe electrical storm visited
St. Louis last week and consider.
able property damage resulted, while
several persons were more or less
seriously injured. In recent years St.
Louis seems to have become favor.
lite target for Jove's missiles, and the
frequent repetition of such disasters
has moved the Post-Dispatch to re.
mark that 1t is time some steps were
taken toward the possibility of con.
trolling the discharges from the artil-
lery of heaven. Our contemporary
suggests that $50 years ago Franklin
showed that lightning was nothing
more than untrapped electricity, and
that since that time no progress has
been made on the lines which he
started. 1t is argued that If Frank.
lin, with his primitive apparatus,
could harness the lightning on small
scale, modern science, with all the
resources which it has at hand, should
be able to subdue the thunderstorm.
The Post-Dispatch also calls atten.
ton to some experiments made in re-
cent years by an English scientist,
who erected tall poles about his
estate, topped with lightning rods,
and stored the electricity caught in
Leyden jars.
There seems to be no doubt, in
view Of the statistics compiled by
meteorologists, that damage from
lightning Is steadily increasing in this
country Various causes are ascribed.
Some scientists say that the destruc.
ton Of the forests has resulted in an
increase in the number and severity
of electrical storms. Others say that
the Capitalization of industry result
ing in vast emanations Of steam from
every city in the country, has tended
to increase the amount of vapOr in
the atmosphere and resulted in more
frequent storms. But whatever the
cause the fact remains. Latest fig
ures show that more than 500 people
were killed by lightning in the coun-
try last year, while the property loss
ran high into the hundreds of thou
sands. Or course, as has been said,
500 people out Of 100000 is not
great number, but the loss of that
many lives yearly from any cause
which might be removed by proper
effort is appalling to contemplate.
Moreover. the property damage is a
factor of no small Importance, and
one which cannot under present con-
ditions be entirely guarded against.
There seems to be little doubt that
science will soon be called on to take
up the question of wholesale protec-
ton from lightning. The writer
quoted above favors an endeavor not
only to make the Lightning harmless,
but to make 1t the servant Of man.
This Is tremendous proposition.
Electricity has been put into service
to remarkable degree. Today 1t fur
nishes man with heat, light and pow
er. 1t carries his messages for him,
furnishes him quick transportation,
cooks his dinner, lights his room. Yet
we do not know what it is. No man
knows whence it comes or whittier it
goes. It's most tremendous and ter
rife demonstration is in the lightning,
Men who attempted to follow the ex.
ample of Franklin have met death as
the result of their temerity, and we
have no assurance that an effort to
enlarge on his ideas might not result
in disaster on larger scale.
But the experiments of the English
scientist spoken of above seem to
have been entirely successful, and
there appears to be no reason why
they should not be followed on a
larger scale. In the cities immunity
from danger might in all probability
be procured by the erection of very
tall poles, equipped with proper con.
ductors for carrying off the current
from the clouds before it has time to
| concentrate into a destructive dis
charge. This experiment has been
tried with success. But so far as the
country districts are concerned such
safeguards are, of course, impossible.
And as to utilizing the electricity TAX
en- from the clouds in the manner sug'
gested, it would probably be not so
much a question of catching as OF
holding on.-Louisville Courier,Jout'
nal.