Thunder and Lightning

rts the earth-an enchanted world, more wonderful than any Eastern legend-an unknown ocean, whose

n the darkness of impenetrable mystery. But we feel that there

they made the King of the Gods responsible for the actions of lightning. He alone in His splendour a

ss. At present our knowledge of ball lightning is limited, and we have only

we may hope, if not to arrive at an immediate conclusion, at least to help i

ven grazing it. It will burn the lining of a garment, and leave the material of which it is made intact. Sometimes it profits by the bewilderme

ny peculiarit

of Hoffmann and Edgar Poe, but nature is more wonderful than the im

would have been ascribed to the devil in olden days. We submit to th

irit, keen, capricious, malicious or stupid, far-seeing or blind, wilful or indifferent, passing from one extreme to another, and of a unique and terrifying character. We se

ng great risks. It resents being interfered with, and those who try to

of this kind which cost

1753, in the middle of a violent storm, he was keeping at a distance from the rod in order to avoid the powerful sparks, and was waiting for the time to measure it, when, his engraver

e study of physics w

among them, but here we encounter a great difficulty. Among the thousands of tours de force and of dexterity accomplished by lightning, which should we tak

n the most precise details. We will group together those among them which present points of resemblance.

is certainly that of leaving the victim in the

xtraordinary exam

heard a long way off. When the passers-by approached to see what had happened, the reapers thus suddenly petrified by death, appeared to be continuing their peaceful meal. One held

any similar

use at Saint-Romain-les-Atheux (Loire), and outside the thunder rolled fearfully. When her parents came back from the fields, they found a sad sight. The young woman had been killed by lightning.

been making some purchases. Several people were gathered round the fireplace. They felt a great movement following a violent clap of thunder. The sensation having passed, ever

en who have been struck have remained on horseback and been carried

es was coming home on horseback when he was struck by lightning. A brother who followed him, not perceiving

le on account of the special attitudes pre

Fifteen sailors who were scattered on the bowsprit were killed or burned in the twinkling of an eye. Some were thrown

o have been struck have been f

, when it had ceased raining and the thunder was quiet, his two sisters, who had been taking shelter under the hedge,

Asti, a priest who was struck w

a sailor was found sitting stone dead at the bow of the ship, with his eyes open and the whole body in s

with the flower still in her hand. It is hard to understand how a human body could remain standing, slightly bent, without a support to prevent its falling. This case i

s in Paris just when the soldiers were going to bed. All those who were lying down sud

sad expression. No contraction of the muscles reveals a transition in the passage of life and death. The eyes and mouth are open as though in a state of watching. When the colour of the flesh is preserved,

erence, it keeps the attitude it had at the suprem

l the same, they all three remained standing in their original positions as though they had not been touched by the electric fluid: their clothes were intact! Af

even the ancients remarked that peo

ilar case, no

ollected his beasts and drove them quickly towards the farm. When he was just there, he was s

ilization of the cinders that certain authors explain the

me was reviewing his army in a plain near the marsh of Capra. Suddenly a storm accompanied by violent claps of thunder

enators of having torn him to pieces: kings have sometimes been s

e preceding examples, are localized to certain parts of the body. Sometimes they are quite superficial and only attack the epide

mples of differen

le in Paris, a man had hi

the dazzling glare of lightning, which was almost immediately succeeded by an awful explosion of thunder. The sentinel, leaving his arms, fell backwards screaming

e there at the time of the accident. Not one of the three men was killed, but the miller was seriously burnt in the he

ast, the two others, of whom one was leading an ass, were some paces behind, when suddenly the five men and the ass were thrown on the ground by a violent clap of thunder. Three of the farmers, r

omenon, no l

. From the knee to the end of the foot the skin was black as though carbonized, and the whole surface was covered with a s

e or less severe. It perforates the bones. The injurie

e loss of speech or sight, temporary or permanen

nation. The ancients remarked this, as we see in the charming passage from Plutarch: "Lightning struck them dead without leaving a

of fulminated air and of ozone. In

s of which were loose and projected slightly. It broke some tiles on the roof, the length of one rafter, and inside the corn-loft it broke the wooden handle of

near it at the time of the explosion, said she had felt her legs warmed by the burning air which ca

e fulminic effluvium, and only owe their preservat

who have been struck give forth a nauseous sme

he Champ Descubert quarter, had her skull perforated as though a big ball had

r," he says, "the sensation which was caused in the locality by the stench which came from the bodies and clothes of

f lightning on man is to shave his hair and beard,

ky if he leaves a handful of hair as a ransom

enty who had her hair cut as though by a razor,

. They were both struck deaf, and the hair and beard and eyebrows of on

ectric current raised the hairs of his body in ridges from the breast to the f

limits itself to certain places where it is thicker or damper on the body of

l. ii. p. 45, we read the followi

generalis de Grassi pudendum puellae ancillae pilos abraseri

lar experiences, and d'Hombres Fi

he could hardly support herself or walk, and felt a great deal of pain in the centre of her body. When she was alone with her friends, they examined her, and they saw "non sine miratione pudendum per

d a joker, but so

imes the system is completely destroyed, and

lobular lightning, near Blois, and had his beard shaved off and destroyed for ever; it never grew again.

ve been struck, which show no other inju

in the road had the hair completel

n the act of loading a waggon of hay. The only trace the lightnin

still more curious, in which the capricious and fantastic lightnin

m, one leg, and the left side of his body were burnt, and the extraordi

ses where the lightning has proved s

ho are struck fall at

anything. This is easy to believe, since electricity is animated by a movement much quicker than that of light, and still more so than that of sound. The eye and ear are paralyzed b

n struck. Besides this, we have already remarked several cases where the people st

quote some examples, rarer, but

ise), and also struck two quarrymen, father and son. This last

r Chantilly, and was raised by the lightning and d

man was flung ten yards from the tree un

ce was in the pape

without hurting him, a young man of twenty-three years of age, Bernard Robart, artilleryman, who was taking a holiday. He was walking to a neighbouring farm when

o verify this fact, I rece

relating to the incident which happened to me duri

. Combes' house, I suddenly felt myself stopped, and without being able to explain how, I found myself in the same instant at the other side of the Place, lying on the ground against the wall of M. Maistre's house. I was astounded; I waited a good minute without knowing where I was. When I got home I felt a severe pain in the right knee, and I perceived that my trousers were torn and that I had a big scar on my knee, and that my hands were slightly scorched. It must have happened against the wall where there wer

ve me,

ard R

an, Fort Sa

seil

ng transported 20, 30, and 50 yards from th

who are struck are as stiff as

next day Dr. Sestier saw his corpse at the Morgue: it was perfectly stiff. The

n named Delabarre, who was holding a piece of bread in his hand. The cont

es very often remain flexib

man were killed. "Although the bodies remained from Sunday to Tuesday unburied,"

en and decompose rapidly,

e doctor could hardly examine it without fainting. The inhabitants of the house were obliged to go away thirty-six hours after the dea

t, to the fact that in the case of enormous discharge, the stiffness of a dead body

s made on animals jus

ave been struck decompose rapidly, which explains quit

ties; sometimes the face is of a corpse-like pal

olet, violet-bronze, black, yellow, and e

ce may be extended over a

under an oak, quoted by Cardan in

nnihilate his faculties, or slightly wound him-this ought not to astonish us when we contemplate the marvello

ety of action. Why does it not invariably kill those it

licable subtlet

rable fluid insinuates itself through the garments, leaving no trace of its passage, and may cause grave

the arm to the foot, as though it had been for a long time too near a quick fire,

es, had his right foot very badly lacerated, while the left was

led under a tree: she had deep marks of burning on the breast and st

e hands were burnt to the bone

the skin, are perforated, burnt, and torn,

as so torn that it was reduced to ashes, whi

shaved the left side, and completely burnt his hat. Then, continuing its route, it tore his garments, penetrated the length of his legs, and tore his trousers from top to bottom. Fina

slight injuries under the skin which do not always correspon

e point of a knife from the shoulders to the feet, without the sign o

out showing any trace of the action of the electric fluid on

d, the inner garments are burnt w

by the fire of heaven, while her

cking and leg, singed the stocking without wounding the leg, burned the lining of his trousers, raised the epidermis of the abdomen, tore off a brass button wh

are unsewn carefully and without a tear,

o cases in

Petit-Creusot, a man had his trousers unsew

aged in binding sheaves, and their daughter, aged nine, wa

d," she cried, running to tak

but we must finish binding

the Good God to keep

D

work, the child went down on her knees, and wi

et; he turned mechanically, and gave a great cry on seeing his little daughter stretched

the mania it has for undressing its victims, and leaving them dead or fainting in the primitiv

rge scientific dossier, from which we have already cited examples in

u, aged twenty-three, was killed by lightning in the m

after he had done so, there was a burst of lightning which split the tree and struck him. In one of its diabolical freaks

in while he was working a plough drawn by three horses. Lightning killed

lot was struck under an oak. His corpse was complete

Re. A farmer, who was on his way to the station at Finaud, was struck

leans, was struck while on his rounds; the fluid deprived him

Blanc was on her way to meet a servant who was in the fields. She had only taken a few steps when she w

It is impossible to assign any rule t

lain the followin

had hardly reached his house when it was set on fire by an electric discharge, and the unfortunate man was killed dead and carbonized. At the same time

have been torn and tattere

-du-Nord), when, suddenly, lightning struck the tree and killed one of them. The six others were thrown to the ground without being much

ng. The fluid, after having passed between the players without hurting them, left the kiosque, and removed a shoe from the poor w

other garments. Sabots, shoes, and even boots are removed, unsewn, un-nailed, cut to pieces, and thrown far away with

f the fall. He was picked up and taken home, and on being examined, his body bore no trace of a wound, and he escaped with a fright. But some days after, when he had recovered from the shock, he remembered that he had worn boots at the time of the a

y-cock, his clothes were reduced to fragments, and his shoes were not t

ng shepherd, who was watching his flock in the fields, was knocked over by the fluid and lo

der a pavilion, and that the pieces of hi

at which was flung ten pac

o remain within the limits of this little book. Did I not say just now that lightning has

own itself a rival to the noblest disciples of Esc

eight years, suddenly, at the age of forty-four, reco

Tunbridge Wells for twenty years, when the spark

on the blind, deaf, and dumb, to whom

ciousness for twenty minutes, but after some days he gradually and permanently recovered the use of his limbs. A weakne

thentic, a cold, a tumour, and rheumatism have been cured

to the shock, to a general upheaval which brings back the circulation to its normal course? Or are we to attribute to the

el much that lightning should rival our feeble electric resources? No! What a number of services might it not

htning. There are too many miseries for a few h

disasters, on account of the number of the

inary of these ar

a church near Carpentras. Fifty people we

t Seidenburg, near Zittau, during the servic

Villars-le-Terroy, when its bells were being ru

820, six men were killed by a stroke of

a, on April 13, 1813, lightning killed eight men in th

small village, two miles from Düren, when lightning struck it; one hundred people w

e killed by the same stroke, and three others were severely wounded. Several were stripped naked, their garments being scattered in rags over the

nine people who were taking refuge under an oak during a storm. These fo

very curious a

n, then a cry was heard, then a hundred more. The curé, who thought that he alone had received the whole electric discharge-and was in reality unhurt-left his place, where he was e

rst treated of all was the treasurer. In raising him they perceived that his eyes were open, but dull and veiled, and he g

pierced in the stem, and the Host had disappeared. The priest searched for it for a long time,

to atoms. Outside, the arrow of the belfry had been carried off,

ro (Province of Orense, Spain) during a funeral. There

ale, but we can give parallel cases where th

cularly attracting lightning, and of frequently receiving i

s when he was in his cradle, his swaddling clothes were singed, and the scar

rks of different sizes, of which the greater part attached themselves to her clothes without burning them, and left livid traces on her arms and even on her thighs.

These are seldom struck. We have even several examples of children

her breast when she was struck by li

e of the Protestant minister, was killed by lightning, w

htning pitied the feebl

k several times during the same storm wi

at least, that it strikes rarely. Such decided differences could not exist without there being finer shades. Thus each degree of conductibility corresponds during the time of a storm to a certain degree of danger. The man who conducts like a metal will be struck as often as a metal, while the man who cuts off the communication in the chain, will

observations are extraordinary and very disconcerting. The fa

ne gave the followin

all the efforts made to revive her. At last, acting on the advice of an old man, they placed her in a freshly dug ditch, and covered h

tly. It mixes in the society of men without doing th

the sight of it the dancers were petrified with terror, and not one could try and escape. But they misunderstood the intentions of th

esent; they were all transformed into niggers. The lightning had swept the chimn

ather than a messenger from Olympus. The fol

ing her turn round three times. A family of twelve were gathered together at a table, sixty yards, a

two big stones from the hearth, and carried them over to near the head of a child

savagely on the head, wounded him severely, and left him dead in the middle of a pool of blood. Then it took a quantity of this blood which was

loor rooms, without doing much damage there; then it went down to the first floor, where there were two young girls, turned them round, and burnt their legs. It continued on

gic manner-the different modes of activity of one of the grandest of Nature's phenom

struck by lightning during her confinement, had a sti

the

ny, in July, 1713, lightning struck a woman who was expecting her confinement. She was delivered some hou

metimes merciful, often cruel, it constitutes in the univers