Devils Lake inter-ocean and Devils Lake free press. (Devils Lake, Ramsey County, N.D.) 1905-1909, 1907-05-03


terrifying flashes of summer thun-
der storms. How swift the alter
nations ara is featured in the state
me.t that they reach as high as
100000 per SECOND. They can be
measured too by the use of re-
Election devices familiar to physi
clstsT and electricians Indeed, Dr.
Hopkins. working III this very lab
oratorv. some time ago achieved
the feat of measuring Il second OF
time down to tn. ul,'-milionth
partt
With the electric discharges
zigzaying across two or three feet
OF air space. taking now one cop
per point and NOW ;All,1i her. while II
dull glow about tin. ,Ntrrnitles Of
the other roo IS which, th,. lightning
| has not ia ken indicates that the
surface ct the snutt is draining
properly and that. therefore the
brickwurk Is safe from dlsintrurA-
ton, the rN Superintendent has solved
at least ii few OF the problems Of
the lightning conductor to his sat =
lsfactl"n, so that they may b.A APP
piled practically to ihr protection
Of the government . valuable prpp-
erty. Their general Application
will probably follow closely. for
governmental applied science in
these days is horourhl V practical.
This Series of experiments OF DR..
| Hopkins is on y one Of the great
number that have been carried on
in the Laboratories of George.
W aShlngtDu university and that.
because of the close connection
that is possible between the uni
versl1v and the government de-
partment can he, brought very di-
rectly to the solution of scientific.
prob eus of notwithstanding. First
| hand investigation has become the.
rule at Washington. Hence in
the matter of protection from cleo
trlcal discharges. no lightning rod
agents need apply at the navy de-
partment. The problem has been
! settled in accordance with --latest
methods and understanding OF
science.
1t merited settlement. Stats
tics of death and accident from
lightning show that it is important
to bring the lightning rod in ar
improved form back into favor
In a recent year there were 3G7
deaths and 49] injuries from light
ming in the United States alone
andsproperty Of an estimated vain,
of 81 100000 was destroyed by it
The reason why lightning rod
1 have been SO generally disusetl il
} because they have SO often beer
!: unintelligentIy constructe d
t Franklin. discoverer of man,
scientific truths, had, so the tx
perts are agreed, the right idea a
to safe-guar' ing property and per
sons from lightning His notion
= was not simply to take care of dis
charges that actually strike, bu
1 to prevent discharges by provid
ing for the quiet passage heaven
ward OF electricity induced on tn
earth by the accumulated electric
ity of the clouds. That is a mail
E point in DR.. Hopkins scheme o
y doing away with insu1ators in tn
= lightning conductors. It has no
generally been understood wha
trouble is brought about through
> the collection of electricity on tn
d outer surface of chimneys.
As showing the misunderstood
g ings of Franklin's principle tina
s have been common, there was il
e operation in Europe and in thi
country for many years an alleges
, protecting device known as the re
peller. This was nothing short Q
: la lightning rod with it's most valu
3 able protective feature, its pointee
5 termination, eliminated. At th
$ toy of the rod was affixed a piee
d ofglass like. thick soda waite
s bottle, inverted. The. idea wa
: that this glass would oen areH