The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1903-11-07
LIGHTNING PHOTOGRAPHS.
Operator When a Suitable
Negative Offers.

During a thunderstorm recently a
number of Swiss marksmen were
struck by lightning while practising al
the rifle butts. 1t was subsequently
found that upon their bodies were i'm
printed Photographic impressions Of
the trees by which the range is sur
rounded. The report of the affair has
been received with incredulity in some
of the London papers. The skepticism
is more surprising than the occurrence,
says st. James Gazette. For at least
a century and a quarter the photo
graptc powers of lightning have been
known to the scientist. The records
Of the Royal society abound with data
upon the point. Benjamin Franklin
noted an instance in 1856, in which the
effect Of what he enormously described
as a thunderbolt was a photograph
upon the breast Of a man the likeness
Of a tree against which he was stand
ing. A New York scientific journal
noted a case of a little girl upon whose
body was impressed the exact image OF
a young maple tree growing before the
window at which she stood when
struck by lightning.
Modern ingenuity has done a great
deal in photography, and by the aid OF
wonderfully rapid shutters, has given
us from time to time very good photo
graphs Of a lightning fash. But the
man is not yet born who can make a
shutter fast enough to catch the real,
full thing. Seen at night, a fash of
lightning appears little more powerful
as an illuminant than moonlight. AS a
matter Of fact, the duration of one of
these flashes is so brief that 1,0OO,O 900
Of them in succession could be crowded
into the space of a single second. II
one flash could last but a tenth of a
second it would give near objects an
illumination loo, 900 times more brill
liant than that of moonlight. The most
rapidly rotating bodies known to
science appear absolutely stationary
when lit up by it. The brillancy Of a
hre-ball is incomparably less vivid than
that of a fash Of lightning, being.
roughly, no brighter than red-hot iron.
With its intense luminosity and al
most Unreasonable rapidity, it is not
surprising that the lightning should
prove a wonderful photographer when
a suitable negative offers.
A series of unauthenticated instances
of photography by lightning was COM
municated to the Royal society by
Prof. Andres Poey, a one-time director
Of the Havana observatory. Among
his instances were several very nota-
bic ones. A tree in which was a boy
in the act OF robbing a birds nest, was
struck by lightning. Upon the breast
of the boy appeared the image Of
branches of the tree, with the nest
lodged in them, and the young birds in
the nest Upon the back of a sailor
struck dead by lightning appeared q
photograph of a horseshoe fastened tC
the foremost against which he hat
been standing. Another mariner had
left upon his chest the inscription
A" just as it appeared upon one 81
the masts. Again, a young man, STRUCK
when wearing a belt in which he hat
concealed a quantity Of coins, carried
to his grave the Photographic impress.
sion Of those coins. More remarkable
still was the case of a lady upon who's,
leg was imprinted the impression Of 4
flower which happened to be in tn,
path Of the electric current, and Wai
photographed through a brick wan.