The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1904-08-11
THUNDER STORM FEAR.
Bring Deprivation Of Real Pleasure
and Is Not Justified BY the Facts.

= " IA
Bring Deprivation of a Real Pleasure
and Is Not Justified by the Facts.
Those who are terror stricken by the
familiar and not very dangerous
phenomena of the summer thunder
shower, not only suffer great deal of
unnecessary unhappiness, but are de-
prived of the pleasure to be gained from
watching the splendid tumult of the sky
which attends the gathering, bursting,
and passing of one of those paroxysnaI
precipitations, with its brilliant electro
cal display and its accompaniment Of
harmless reverberation.
The fear Of lightning is not, however,
something to be reasoned with and
allayed by scientific generalizations. 1t
Is largely the result of early training
by ignorant or superstitious parents or
nurses; but temperament has a great
zeal to do with it in many cases. An
atmosphere highly charged with elec-
tricity seems to produce great deal of
nervous excitation in. persons sensitive
to that kind of influence. They MANI
fest symptoms of restlessness. and APP
prehension for a considerable time be-
fore the thunder heads begin to roll.
Many animals are affected in the same
way. As a consequence of the condition
Of nervous tension thus produced, many
persons are highly excited before
thunderstorm begins, and are ready to.
experience paraoxysnls Of fear even
when no occasion for them exists. This
condition is frequently noticed in chill
dren too young to reason very closely,
and who have never suffered from a
bad example of fear. Their nervous
Firritability and general "naughtiness" is
often attributed to thesoppressive heat,
when 1t Is really due to the effect on the
nerves Of an unbalanced electrical COM
dition Of the atmosphere, which the
coming thunder shower will promptly
correct. Measures Of discipline and
punishment are OF very little value in
such cases. If emphasized by harsh or
Erepressive treatment, ittis very likely
to develop later in life into fear Of
lighting, which is temperamental and
can never be wholly overcome. It is.
however, susceptible of control, and the
effort to control 1t is usually repaid.
That in the course of a season light
ming does a great deal of damage to
persons and property Is unfortunately
true. The statistics of, lighting casual
ties are very incomplete, and probably
quite inaccurate, but from such facts
as can be gathered from trustworthy
sources, it appears that the statistical
risk Of injury from lighting is about
the smallest which admits OF expression
In percentages. Probably not more
than SO people are killed or injured an
nually by lighting in the United States.
The mortality from the toy pistol so far
exceeds this as to make lightning APP
pear almost negligible as danger.
An ancient superstition that a per-
son was much safer In a dark room or
out Of a draught, is II not absolute nom
sense at least of SO little Importance
that he who closes all windows and ex-
|cludes the light during a thunder show
.er is to be pitied for making himself so
uncomfortable for so little cause 1t is
perhaps somewhat safer inside a, proper
ly protected house than outdoors and
safer In the open than under a tree, es-
pecially IL the tree stands relatively
apart, but the average person will run
to shelter for more immediate reasons
than the fear Of being struck, and if one
is forced to fare abroad at such time
the errand is usually too exigent to
allow his standing long under tree.
lanes G. Baylies in New York Times.