Thunder and Lightning

d attributed, it would seem, to flashes of a special character, which we may perhaps term Ceraunic Rays, from Keraunos, lightning. Th

thers, it is extremely diffic

accurately observed, more or less accurately recorded. I have made great efforts

of June 18, 1896, pu

writes to us from

s. They were standing at the entrance when they were struck by lightning and thrown violently to the ground. Elisson, who was not much hurt, soon reco

ghtning cut open one of his boots and tore his trousers; but over and above this, like a tattooer making use of photography, it reproduced admirably on the artisan's body a representation of a pine tree, of

tion of it, and for a photograph, if possible, of the picture on Elisson's body. By a fortunate c

a trail, which began near the teat of his left breast, at the level of his waistcoat pocket, in which there was a watch (which had not stopped), and went down towards the navel, then tu

tcoat nor shirt were burnt or marked in any way to correspond with it. Other representations of tree branches were reproduced higher up on the breast, but not so distinctly in the midst of a uniform redness. Not having by me my camera, I made a sketch of the tree, which was marvellously distinct, leaving the taking of a photograph until next day. Next day, when I returned with my camera, the picture was still clearly visible

Tourna

of the sketch encl

ls, in which the blood has taken on a more or less marked aspect. On the other hand, it is certainly not much easier to recognize in it a photograph of a more or less distant tree. In this state of uncerta

typographical lines in such a way as

the poplar P, which stands one hundred metres away, and is visible by A through the door O, of which the width is one metre. Behind this poplar stands a big pine, a branch of which is also depicted on the man's body. By this same stroke of lightni

d not strike this pine? But judging by the position of the trees relatively to the man struck, the most likely hypothesis is that the electric discharge came from the point P towards A, and that the poplar as well as the ad

obtained by the cathodic rays or anti-cathodic rays, of w

o take the newspaper narratives on trust without verification. In

of pines, in the midst of ferns. Curious to relate, on the occasion of recording the fact of the man's being dead, it was discovered that his body was covered

lon for a precise confirmation of thi

e 15th Battalion of Chasseurs, has handed me your

cident. The man's clothes were not affected in any way, and the only traces left by the passage of the lightning, consisted in some slight irregularly shaped burns on the upper part of the hollow of the right te

au

15th Battalio

ered by a note whi

nst. should be made by the surgeon-major of my battalion in order t

op

bataillon

the 15th Battalion of t

eon-majors hardly ever take the trouble to examine bodies thoroughly," and that it is possible that in this case "the examination may have been ve

e can but seek to study it as set forth in

use. The targets, distant 300 metres from the firing-line, are placed to the side of a grove of pines. Between stretches an undulating rock-strewn meadow-land. Only the butts are provided with a lightning-conductor,

are quite inert, apparently dead; others, looking as though they were asphyxiated, give out a painful rattling noise from their throats. At the bar, to the side of the stand, no one felt anything-it was not even noticed that there had been a violent stroke of lightning. A kilometre away the band, which had

in firing, and placed in a line, A, B, C,

s. Presently we shall come to the others awaiting their turn, t

ring, either kn

statue," unable to move. He turned righ

the picture was of a brownish rather than a blueish shade. It was suggested that it resembled a pine, be

rom a certain heaviness in his

s, which were healed w

self about 2? metres from his position on the ground, with a sto

n he came to himself again he began to ramble in his speech; his pencil was broken lengthwise into four pieces. The wire of his bell had been electrified. By way of wound, he had a picture of a pine branch on his back; water issued from it as from a blister; t

only some insig

htning he was pressing the electric button with his thumb in order to give the signal, "Change the target;" he had a s

e is still affected, being very weak-the retina was probably torn away. The day after the accident, the young man's face became all inflamed, especially

s of the vasomotor nerves, "which would also explain the tree-like form of the pictures

like chorus, "A???"-then, before he could make out what was happening, he found himself driven up against the wall of

eft intact the rifles standing on the rack. Quite near this, a man awaiting his turn fell, clinging on

is hair burnt on one spot of about the size of a five franc piece; others, who had burns upon the

his inability to get to his father, who lay dead upon the ground. Two men took flight without throwing aside their guns; another ran as far as the village, and some hours afterwards he was found asleep in a house "to which there was nothing to take

valley. But Dr. Yersin's explanation of the Cera

ago by one of the most learned physicists

nder the tree and knocked them over senseless-one of them was lifted to a height of more than a yard and thrown upon his back. It was thought they must be dead, but thanks to the attention given to them at once, they were brought to themselves, and they are now out of danger. But here i

ind among my records. The incident

ning underneath a chestnut tree. In a memorandum drawn up on June 18 by a learned do

did not succumb for about a quarter of an hour, after saying a few words. The corpse bore an oval plate, so to speak, of about 13 to 14 centimetres in length, by 4 to 5 in wid

ted in the discovery of a phenomenon already recorded by se

esented a long branch of leaves like those of a chestnut tree; the second, which seemed to be formed by two or three such branches twisted together, was in the middle of the outside of the arm; and the third, in the middle of the shou

a sixth

rds an ironwork enclosure, and knelt down beside this trellis. There was a terrible thunderclap, the horses bolted in their fright, and the monk remained with his face to the ground. The others, who saw him fall, ran up to his assistance, only to find him dead. The medical attendant of the monastery

s, five may be taken

), published the following narrative

rom top to bottom in the form of a screw; the lightning carried away the bark and about a centimetre of the wood beneath; then quitting the tree, it struck the head of one of the workm

en to their homes, and it was found that both had been in contact with the electric fluid. The astonishing thing about them is, that one of them had the branches and leaves of the pea

k by lightning in the vicinity of a poplar. It was found that both of them had on their breasts stains exactly like the leaves of a poplar. These marks, in the case of the magistrate, went

ich there was question of a man killed by lightning on May 10, 1585, in the Collegiate School of Riom in Auvergne; in this case the electric fluid had entered by the heel and gone out by the head, leaving on the body singular marks, described in the report. It was thought that the lightning on its way, through having forced the blood into all the vessels in the skin, must have made all the ramifications of these vessels sensitive to impressions from without. Extraordinary though th

Photography, the photo-electric pictures produced in the laboratories of physicists, Moses's figures(?), the Lichtenberg flowers, cathodic rays, Rontgen rays, radiography-all these th

by Poey in his "Rélation Historique des

not stated to have suffered any ill effects; but a flower, which had stood in the route of the el

ding at a window facing a nut tree at the moment of a dazzling flash o

cow was killed, and the woman was thrown on the ground insensible. She was, however, soon revived. In loosening her clot

back of a woman of forty-four, who was also struck, the lightning left a reproduction (of a reddish hue)

me that we must admit that there is something else besides ecchymoses, something el

ctrical discharges upon sensitized plates. Might they not be produced by this dischar

d from those already dealt with, are easier to explai

endinger, was returning home by train. On getting out at the station he f

ad on one side of it a steel plate marked wi

high there was a reproduction, as though by photography, of his own monogram. His astonishment may be imagined. He succeeded in reviving the stranger, who was taken to a hospital. The doctor remarked that in his clothes his

lash of lightning, but proceeded on his way without experiencing any ill effects. He had on him a purse containing two pieces of silver in one compartment and a ten-franc piece in gold in another. On taking out his purse he found that a coating of silver taken from one of the silver pi

tower of a chapel near Dresden and took the gilt off the framework of the clock and transferred it t

earlier cases this was not so; the trees contained no metallic element. It was not

distinct in that the rest of the man's own skin was very dark. These rings, overlapping each other, were of different sizes, corresponding exactly with thos

us think of

dad lady who had been struck by lightning in her youth and on whose stomach

struck. Here are others in which the objects reproduced are further removed, but s

at the foot of the mizzen-mast was killed. On his back was found a light yellow and black mark, beginning at his neck and

the number 44, which his mates all declared was not there before. These two figures, large and well formed, with a full stop between them, were identical wi

ttoo-mark in spite of wha

as found on the right ear and on the right side of the neck of a young man struck by lightning, the

nch of physics, well meriting study; secondly, that the facts set forth are sufficiently inverse

ave been a subject for s

he most lucid common sense upon the curious effects of lightning-then a text for the most superstitious commentari

feet thick, by a hole conducting an iron rod à l'aiguille de cadran, detached two planks, four feet high, and threw them to the extreme end of the dormitory, followed a brass wir

f an immense number of people, is a kind of frieze of all kinds of col

of the dormitory; the designs upon it are of flames darting up and down from a

uggest the variety of nuances in the original. Some people declare that in the midst of all the colours in the flames, faces of men ma

copy of the des

ing encountered on its route. In this girdle traced by the lightning, the author sees a scattering of all the constituents of the brass wire, transformed into all kinds of colours due to the

eur at Lagny, when it was struck by lightning on July 18, 1689. This is one of the most a

people's sayings and doings in connection with the Lagny case of lightning,

o see mysteries in the most transparently natural events, minds

h, and carried off the slates from its roof, but had struck and overthrown near

rist was raised to the level of the altar-screen, though this figure rema

to the ground without breaking or melting any of its rings, which were made only

e oil-lamp burning b

eces the stone upon which the

ieces the card on which the

ich was over it-both of them in an extraordinary

gh altar was se

nion-cloth and of the tabernacle, upo

ie quam pateretur, and going down to H?c quotiescumque feceretis in mei memoriam facietis, inclusive; only omitti

nce for some words over others. Which shall we consider the privileged words-those taken or those left? What is one to think of the extraordinary way in which the figure

d tremors than those who witnessed or who even heard of the effects of the lightning at Lagny. For no doubt was felt that they were the outcome of supernatural forces-spirits alone could have worked these marvels; it was a question only

wilfully profaning the holy objects and suppressing out of contempt, or some other evil design, the words so essential to the mystery; others held that mere imps had been at work, a

explains in the simplest way in the world, without having to have recourse to an

es, I went to the church myself, and the effects of

t the moment of the lightning the three-leaved card which contains the canon of the Mass lay between the altar-cloth and the small mat upon the stone on which the consecration takes place, folded in such a way that the printed side was next to the altar-cloth, I c

done in red letters on the card, and were no more favoured nor ill-used than certain other marks wi

ed ink. He examines also into the other phenomena, explaining them in the same way, like the sagacious and enlightened observer he was. It i

ct and pressure-it was not a case of reproducing distant objects as though by photography. Here is an

g thing about the affair lies in the fact that crosses were afterwards found to have been imprinted upon the bodies of some of those present at the service. The Bishop of Wells assured the Bishop of Ely that his wife told him she had a cross thus imprinted upon her; and that on his bei

on the inside of the skin of sheep which had been struck

middle of it was a field, about fifty yards long, in which six sheep were struck dead by lightning. When skinned, there was di

the Meteorological Society of London at its se

ar to me and my schoolmates, and that when the skins were shown to u

us of these othe

n the trunk of a big tree a picture of a bent nail, which was to be foun

was struck by lightning, and engraved on its dried leaves was a pictur

ion, a person was killed by lightning while standing up near a whitewashe

l rays, ceraunic rays, emitted by lightning, and capable of photographing alike on the skin

rn in this as well as in all t

OWES AND SONS, LIMITE

TNO

des Sciences,

les plus extraordinaires effe

riber'

aphical errors

at the beginni

frequently used in the original. Those occurring equall