PICTURES MADE BY LIGHTNING
In this last chapter I would like to group together a series of
instances of pictures made by lightning, some of them very curious and
attributed, it would seem, to flashes of a special character, which we
may perhaps term Ceraunic Rays, from _Keraunos_, lightning. These
instances are of great variety, and doubtless admit of many different
explanations. Here, then, is a selection worth looking into.
In this case, as in so many others, it is extremely difficult to get
at the exact truth.
Generally speaking, it is from the newspapers that we get the
facts--more or less accurately observed, more or less accurately
recorded. I have made great efforts to inform myself personally as to
the incidents whenever this has been practicable.
The _Petit Marseillais_ of June 18, 1896, published the following:--
"A correspondent writes to us from Pertius, June 17:--
"'In the course of the storm here yesterday, two day-labourers of our
town, Jean Sasier and Joseph Elisson, took refuge in a cabin
constructed of reeds. 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 recovered his senses and called for help.
People ran up at once and carried the two men to where they live,
where all necessary attention was given to them.
"'Sasier's condition, though serious enough by reason of a burn on his
right side, is not causing anxiety. The curious part of the incident
is the effect the electric fluid has produced upon Elisson. The
lightning 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 a poplar, and of the handle of his watch. It is an undoubted
case of photography through opaque materials; most luckily the
sensitive plate--Elisson's body--merely took the impression and
received no injury.'"
On reading this narrative, I wrote to the Mayor of the Commune of
Pertius to ask him for confirmation of it, and for a photograph, if
possible, of the picture on Elisson's body. By a fortunate
circumstance, the Mayor happened to be the doctor who had attended the
victim. Here is his reply:--
"M. Joseph Elisson, of Pertius, aged about thirty-eight, was
struck by lightning on June 17. Called to attend to him at
about two in the afternoon, I found some superficial burns
forming 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 turned boldly to the right towards the iliac
spine and down the outer side of his right leg as far as the
ankle, at the level of which his boot, made of strong
leather, had been split open.
"To the right, a little outside the vertical line passing the
teat, there was imprinted in vivid red--the red of the
burn--a picture of a tree. The foot of it was on a level with
the edge of the ribs, the top went slightly above the teat.
This picture was absolutely vertical. Its outlines stood out
very distinctly from the white skin. It was composed of bold,
clearly defined lines, about a demimillimetre in width.
Neither waistcoat 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, but it had faded a good
deal, lost in the colour of the skin, and no longer to be
reproduced by photography. I regretted bitterly not having
taken it the day before. I regret this all the more now that
you have done me the honour of writing to me on the subject,
and I am glad to be able to send you my sketch of the
picture, which is correct as to dimensions, and which
represents what I saw as accurately as I could make it.
"DR. G. TOURNATOIRE."
Here is a facsimile of the sketch enclosed by the doctor.
[Illustration]
It is somewhat like the shape of a poplar. There is nothing to suggest
that we have here a case of swollen veins, or arteries made
conspicuous by a flow of blood, nor of a tree-like form due to blood
vessels, 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
uncertainty on the subject, I wrote again to Dr. Tournatoire, and
begged of him to go to the scene of the incident and to make a plan of
the ground, and take a photograph of the view. Here is the doctor's
reply:--
"This plan can be reproduced by a few typographical lines in such a
way as to show clearly how things happened--
[Illustration]
"The square represents the cabin in which the two workmen took refuge.
They were sitting almost opposite each other on the seats marked A and
B. There is a flash of lightning. One of the men is knocked over, and
bears on his right side a picture of 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
lightning the other worker, seated at B, is thrown out of the cabin
three metres by an opening D, about forty centimetres wide. The two
men are alive, and have come out of it with a few days' rest. They saw
nothing, heard nothing, and can remember nothing."
In the photographs taken by Dr. Tournatoire it is not clear which is
the tree, for the poplar, P, does not stand out alone. As the cabin
stands under the shade of a pine tree, one is disposed to ask whether
the lightning did 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 adjacent pine formed a sort of screen, and
reproduced their reflection by the agency of some unknown constituent
of these Ceraunic Rays, which enable them to photograph things in this
way through clothes on to the human body.
This assuredly is a more extraordinary effect than those obtained by
the cathodic rays or anti-cathodic rays, of which science seems
equally unable to give any explanation.
Let us proceed with our studies. It is important above all never to
take the newspaper narratives on trust without verification. In the
month of June, 1897, the following appeared in the newspapers:--
"PHOTOGRAPHIC LIGHTNING.--A _chasseur_ of the 15th battalion, in
barracks at Remiremont, was struck by lightning. He was standing upon
a mound not far from a grove 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 with punctures
imprinted on it by the lightning, and representing the nature and
aspect of the branches and plants all round him at the time when he
was struck."
I wrote at once to the _chef de bataillon_ for a precise confirmation
of this, and received the following reply:--
"M. le Commandant Joppé, commanding officer of the 15th
Battalion of Chasseurs, has handed me your letter of June
14th, and asked me to reply to it.
"It is the case that a _chasseur_ of the battalion was struck
by lightning on the afternoon of June 4, but it is quite
untrue that there was found on his body a photograph of the
trees adjoining the spot of the accident. 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 temple of linear formation, save for one circular
burn measuring from three to four millimetres in diameter,
and depressing the skin into the shape of a saucer. There was
no lesion on the whole surface of the body.
"MAUNY,
"Surgeon-Major 15th Battalion of Chasseurs."
This reply was covered by a note which ran as follows:--
"I thought it desirable that the reply to your letter of the
14th inst. should be made by the surgeon-major of my
battalion in order that it might be the more scientifically
accurate and authoritative.
"JOPPÉ,
"Chef de bataillon breveté,
"Commanding Officer of the 15th Battalion of the
Chasseurs des Vosges."
Clearly, the student of natural phenomena cannot take too many
precautions. And yet ... an officer of high rank confided to me
recently that "surgeon-majors hardly ever take the trouble to examine
bodies thoroughly," and that it is possible that in this case "the
examination may have been very superficial." If this be a general
rule, there must have been an exception here, as also in the fifth
case, to which we shall be coming just now.
The problem is far from being solved, and we can but seek to study it
as set forth in a number of instances. Here is a third case:--
On Sunday, August 23, 1903, a certain number of riflemen were
practising at the Charbonnières range, near the village of Le Pont, in
the valley of Lalle Joux (Canton de Vaud, Suisse), five targets out of
six were 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, and in it are five markers. _There are six
telephone wires along the line of fire_; they come as far as the stand
and go down to within about 50 centimetres of the scorers' seats.
_Each target has its own telephone bell._
The weather was not stormy, though the sky was somewhat overcast.
Firing was going on. At about 3.30 there was a clap of thunder, and
lightning struck the electric wires. In the stand twenty-eight men,
riflemen, scorers, and spectators, are thrown to the ground in every
direction and in every position. Some 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 been giving a concert in front of the Hotel de la Triute on
the bridge, continued to play. Presently a man reaches them with the
report that twenty of the riflemen have been killed. Consternation
becomes general, and relief parties are organized. Fortunately the
damage done was much less than was supposed.
Let us describe the men actually engaged in firing, and placed in a
line, A, B, C, D, and E, their scorers are behind them.
Let us give our attention, first, to these men and their scorers.
Presently we shall come to the others awaiting their turn, then to
the spectators, and finally to the markers at the targets.
The men were firing, either kneeling or lying.
A remained in position, kneeling "like a statue," unable to move. He
turned right over as soon as he was touched. Killed.
B had _a pine tree depicted on his breast_--upside down, its roots
indicated by some outlines up at the top; the picture was of a
brownish rather than a blueish shade. It was suggested that it
resembled a pine, because of a pine being ten metres away from the
stand, but really it was more like a branch of fern. Killed.
C felt hardly anything apart from a certain heaviness in his limbs
when picking himself up.
D had some slight burns, which were healed within two or three days.
E was holding his rifle with the barrel vertically. He found himself
about 2-1/2 metres from his position on the ground, with a stone in
his hands; his rifle had been bent in two below the trigger.
A's scorer held the pear-shaped handle of the electric bell between
his fingers, his elbows upon the table. Saw nothing, heard nothing.
Felt himself suddenly bent up double, his face buried in the gravel;
lost consciousness while he was being carried away; when 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; there were no traces of
blood. The picture disappeared at the end of two days. For a certain
time the young man had a pain in his loins; he still limps somewhat;
probably what he now suffers from is sciatic lumbago, the result of
partial and temporary paralysis.
B's scorer had only some insignificant burns.
C's scorer only came to himself twenty minutes later as the result of
artificial respiration. At the moment of the lightning he was pressing
the electric button with his thumb in order to give the signal,
"Change the target;" he had a small hole in his thumb. This burn bled
later, and the wound took four weeks to heal. He had also some burns
on his legs.
D's scorer was holding the handle of the bell against his left cheek,
on a level with his eye. The handle, made of wood, burst. The sight of
his left eye 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 the part round the eyes. These were
quite hidden. This inflammation, of a bluish tint, is due to the
dilation of the small veins or of the capillaries.
Dr. Yersin, who attended several of the victims, attributes this
dilation to a paralysis of the vasomotor nerves, "_which would also
explain the tree-like form of the pictures seen upon the skin_," and
the transudation (?) of water across the small blood-vessels.
E's scorer had time to see the men on his left fall, in a green or
violet light. He had heard a general death-rattle-like chorus,
"Aôôô"--then, before he could make out what was happening, he found
himself driven up against the wall of the stand. He had a wound under
his feet; his thumb torn also, probably in trying to hold himself up
against the wall.
Behind the scorers were a dozen other riflemen and some spectators. To
the left the electric current left intact the rifles standing on the
rack. Quite near this, a man awaiting his turn fell, clinging on to
the neck of one of his comrades, also struck. Later he found his purse
in the middle of the stand.
In the case of several of the spectators, the burns were to be found
in separate sores. One had his hair burnt on one spot of about the
size of a five franc piece; others, who had burns upon their feet and
legs, are under the impression they saw a small blue flame at the tips
of their shoes.
The general feeling was at first merely that of stupefaction. Terror
did not come until afterwards. "Those who did not lose all
consciousness were half stunned." A young boy was noticed jammed up
against the wall, incapable of moving, but bewailing 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 him." One young spectator, a stranger to the
neighbourhood, was seized with a partial paralysis of the brain; he
could not keep his balance when walking, and when questioned he would
recite the names of stations on a Swiss railway. He is better now.
This event will not be soon forgotten in the Joux valley. But Dr.
Yersin's explanation of the Ceraunic pictures does not seem to me to
be justified.
Here is a fourth instance, given me long ago by one of the most
learned physicists of last century, Hoin, of the Institute.
"I am going to tell you," he wrote to me in July, 1866, "of a stroke
of lightning which was very curious in its effects. It occurred at
midday on June 27, at Bergheim, a village situated to the north of
Logelbach at the foot of the Vosges. It struck two travellers who had
taken refuge under 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 is the strange feature of the accident.
Both travellers have on their backs, extending down to their thighs,
_the imprint, as though by photography, of the leaves of a lime tree_;
according to the statement of the Mayor, M. Radat, _the most skilful
draughtsman could not have done it better_."
Here is a fifth instance which I find among my records. The incident
happened at Chambéry, May 29, 1868.
In the course of a violent storm, a soldier of the 47th Regiment was
struck by lightning underneath a chestnut tree. In a memorandum drawn
up on June 18 by a learned doctor of Chambéry, an eyewitness of the
occurrence, the following facts are recorded:--
"The man who was killed had been standing in the centre of a group of
eight soldiers, who had their guns in their hands, without bayonets.
Struck in the region of the heart, he 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 width, occupying largely the precordial region, and presenting the
parchment-like aspect of a vesicatory that had become rapidly dried
up. The clothes were neither torn nor burnt.
"Two hours after his death an examination of the body resulted in the
discovery of a phenomenon already recorded by several observers--the
reproduction of photo-electric pictures.
"On the right shoulder were three bunches of leaves of a more or less
deep reddish violet hue, reproduced minutely with the most absolute
photographic precision. The first, situated on the lower part of the
inside of the forearm, represented 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 shoulder, larger and
rounder, showed only some leaves and small branches at the top and at
the borders, the centre presenting a red stain diminishing towards the
circumference. The body, when dissected, bore no sign of any interior
lesion."
Here is a sixth instance:--
In June, 1869, a Trappist was struck by lightning at the monastery of
Scourmant, near Chimay in Belgium. It was the afternoon, and the monks
were busy mowing. The storm coming along obliged them to seek shelter.
One of them, who was following the mowing machine worked by two
horses, directed it towards 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, sent for at
once, discovered on the body two large and deep burns, identical in
shape, and placed symmetrically to each side of the breast; he pointed
out also to those who were present a white spot under the left armpit,
_presenting a very distinct picture of the trunk of a tree with
branches on it_.
Out of these six cases, five may be taken as fully authenticated.
Dr. Lebigne, Mayor of Nibelle (Loiret), published the following
narrative in the _Moniteur_ of September 7, 1864.
"On Sunday, September 4, 1864, at about 10.30 a.m., three men were
busy gathering pears about 200 metres out of Nibelle, when the pear
tree was struck by lightning, and was distorted from 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 workmen, who was eating some bread at the time, and
killed him, as well as a dog by his side. The head was burnt behind
from top to bottom and was impregnated with a strong smell of sulphur.
"The two other workmen who were on the tree were thrown to the ground,
and remained for some time senseless. When they came to themselves
they could not move their legs. They were taken 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 pear tree clearly imprinted on his breast as though
by daguerreotype_. The terrible photographer had been merciful,
however, for that evening both the men were up again and able to
walk."
The _Comptes rendus_ of the Academie des Sciences for the year 1843
(xvi. p. 1328) records that in July, 1841, in the department of
Indre-et-Loire, a magistrate and a miller's boy were struck 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 away gradually as the blood
began to circulate again. In the case of the boy, who was killed on
the spot, they had faded somewhat by the day after, when decomposition
had begun to set in.
_A propos_ of this case, very similar to those preceding, Arago
recalled the fact that in 1786 Leroy, a member of the Academie des
Sciences, declared that Franklin had several times told him how a man
who was standing at a door during a storm had seen a tree struck by
lightning opposite him, and that a representation of this tree was
found imprinted upon his breast. Arago recalled, too, in this
connection a report made to the old Academy in August 2, 1786, by
Bossuet and Leroy, in which 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 this may appear, they go on to say,
it is not new; Père Beccaria cites a similar case; and Franklin's case
is cited here also as analogous. Besile, the author of the record of
the Riom case, "did not hesitate," he tells us, "to attribute the
effect to an eruption of the blood in the vessels of the skin,
producing a result similar to that of an injection." The statement in
the _Comptes rendus_ is entitled "Strange appearance of Ecchymoses
formed by lightning upon the skin of two persons."
That is just the question. Was there in these pictures nothing but
ecchymoses--infiltrations of the blood into the cellular tissue?
Perhaps that may be so in some cases, but not in all. Photography, the
photo-electric pictures produced in the laboratories of physicists,
Moses's _figures_(?), the Lichtenberg flowers, cathodic rays, Rontgen
rays, radiography-all these things open new horizons for us. And even
if we do not find any explanation satisfactory, we should not be
justified in accepting the first offered to us as being so, if in fact
it be not.
Here are four interesting cases recorded by Poey in his "Rélation
Historique des images photo-electriques de la foudre."
Mme. Morosa, of Lugano, seated near a window during a storm,
experienced a shock from which she is not stated to have suffered any
ill effects; but a flower, which had stood in the route of the
electric current, was found perfectly _drawn_ on her leg, and this
picture lasted the rest of her days.
In August, 1853, a young girl in the United States of America was
standing at a window facing a nut tree at the moment of a dazzling
flash of lightning; a complete picture of the tree was reproduced on
her body.
In September, 1857, a peasant woman of Seine-et-Marne, who was minding
a cow, was struck by lightning under a tree. The cow was killed, and
the woman was thrown on the ground insensible. She was, however, soon
revived. In loosening her clothes to attend to her, the people who
came to her assistance found perfectly reproduced on her breast _a
picture of the cow_.
On August 16, 1860, a mill at Lappion (Aisne), belonging to M.
Carlier, was struck by lightning. On the back of a woman of
forty-four, who was also struck, the lightning left a reproduction (of
a reddish hue) of a tree--_trunk_, _branches_, _foliage_, _and all_.
Her clothes bore no trace of the passage of the lightning.
Unless we are to suppose that all these have been inaccurately
observed, it seems to me that we must admit that there is something
else besides ecchymoses, something else besides the workings of veins
and arteries in these pictures wrought by lightning.
Certain of these tree-like pictures resemble the patterns we get in
photographing electrical discharges upon sensitized plates. Might they
not be produced by this discharge upon the surface of the body--or by
the emission of electricity from the body struck?
The pictures we shall now hear of, to be distinguished from those
already dealt with, are easier to explain, and about their genuineness
there can be no doubt.
In the summer of 1865, a doctor from the neighbourhood of Vienna, Dr.
Derendinger, was returning home by train. On getting out at the
station he found that he had not got his purse on him--some one
probably had stolen it.
This purse was made of tortoise-shell, and had on one side of it a
steel plate marked with the doctor's monogram--two D's intermingled.
Some time after, the doctor was called to attend to a stranger who
had been found lying insensible under a tree, having been struck by
lightning. The first thing that he noticed on examining the man's body
was that on his thigh 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 lost tortoise-shell purse
would probably be found. So it proved. The individual struck by
lightning was the thief. The electric fluid had been attracted by the
steel plate, and had imprinted the monogram upon the man's body.
In this case we are set thinking of electro-metallurgy, all the more
because there are a number of other instances which certainly belong
to this category. Thus, for instance, on July 25, 1868, at Nantes, a
stranger near the Pont de l'Erdre, on the Quai Flesselles, was
enveloped by a flash 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 pieces--a franc--had been transferred to
both sides of the ten-franc piece. The franc, slightly thinner,
especially over the moustache of Napoleon III., was in parts slightly
bluish. This transference of the silver on to gold was made through
the skin of the partition of the compartments![1]
Another case. In Gilbert's "Annalen der Physik" (1817) we read that a
flash of lightning struck the tower of a chapel near Dresden and took
the gilt off the framework of the clock and transferred it to the
leaden runs of the window-panes in such a way as to leave no sign of
how these had been gilded.
In these cases the analogy with galvano electro-metallurgy is evident.
But in the earlier cases this was not so; the trees contained no
metallic element. It was not a case of transference. They seem to have
been photographed by the ceraunic rays.
On October 9, 1836, a young man was killed by lightning. The corpse
bore in the middle of the right shoulder six rings of flesh-colour,
which seemed the more 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 those of the gold coins which he had
on him on the right side of his belt, as the public official who
examined his body and all the witnesses were able to testify.
This makes us think of radiography.
A correspondent of Poey, the astronomer, told him that he had known a
Trinidad lady who had been struck by lightning in her youth and on
whose stomach the lightning had imprinted a metallic comb which she
carried in her apron.
In these instances there was some kind of contact of the objects with
the persons struck. Here are others in which the objects reproduced
are further removed, but still of metallic substance and still
reminding us therefore of electro-metallurgy.
In September, 1825, the brigantine _Le Buon-Servo_, at anchor in the
Bay of Armiro, was struck by lightning. A sailor seated 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 going down to his loins, where
there was discovered an exact reproduction, in facsimile, of a
horseshoe nailed to the mast.
The mizzen-mast of another brigantine was struck by lightning in the
roadstead of Zaube. Under the left breast of a sailor who was killed
was found imprinted 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 with the same numbers in metal
affixed to the rigging of the ship, and placed between the mast and
the sailor's bunk, in which he was lying asleep when struck.
May it not have been a tattoo-mark in spite of what his companions
declared?
M. José Maria Dau, of Havana, records that in 1838, in the province of
Candaleria, in Cuba, there was found on the right ear and on the right
side of the neck of a young man struck by lightning, the reproduction
of a horseshoe, which had been nailed up at a short distance from him
against a window.
These various records lead us to the reflection: first, that
ceraunography should form a new branch of physics, well meriting
study; secondly, that the facts set forth are sufficiently inverse in
their nature to show us that we have before us several quite distinct
specimens of phenomena.
However, these matters have been a subject for study long before our
day.
A priest, P. Lamy, of the Congregation of Saint Maur, published in
1696 an excellent little work,[2] informed by the most lucid common
sense upon the curious effects of lightning--then a text for the most
superstitious commentaries. Voltaire could not have reasoned the thing
out better. He deals with two very extraordinary cases among others.
The first had for scene the Abbey of Saint Médard, at Soissons, on
April 26, 1676. A flash of lightning struck the tower of the abbey,
went into the clock, penetrated a wall eight 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 wire stretched along the whole length of the wall,
setting fire to it and spreading it out like a ribbon painted to
represent a furrow of flames. Here is the author's own description:--
"The most surprising effect, and one which has aroused the curiosity
of an immense number of people, is a kind of frieze of all kinds of
colours extending along the wall of the dormitory and just above the
doors.
"The depth of this frieze is about two feet; its length is almost
equal to that of the dormitory; the designs upon it are of flames
darting up and down from a kind of wide band which occupies the centre
of the frieze throughout its length.
"I have had a portion of this frieze copied, so as to give the reader
an idea of it, but it must be admitted that it is difficult to suggest
the variety of _nuances_ in the original. Some people declare that in
the midst of all the colours in the flames, faces of men may be
descried as well as of marmosets and demons; but those who are less
richly endowed with imagination can see nothing of all this."
On p. 274 is a copy of the design by P. Lamy.
At this period, physicists were of the belief that lightning was "an
exhalation of nitre and sulphur," acting something after the fashion
of powder, and able to burn up or throw over everything 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 dilation of the copper, melted and
vaporized over the width of two feet, the colours, in which yellow
predominates, varying according to the thickness and the inequalities
of the "projection."
[Illustration]
The second case examined into by P. Lamy, was that of what happened in
the church of Sauveur at Lagny, when it was struck by lightning on
July 18, 1689. This is one of the most astounding in the entire
history of the subject. Let us see what our author has to tell us:--
"If we were to look for some excuse for the strangeness and diversity
of the people's sayings and doings in connection with the Lagny case
of lightning, we should assuredly find it in the extraordinary nature
of the case itself.
"For what would naturally be the effect upon minds accustomed to see
mysteries in the most transparently natural events, minds whose
philosophy never goes beyond the senses, when they learn--
"1. That the lightning had not only descended upon the clock-tower of
the church, and carried off the slates from its roof, but had struck
and overthrown nearly fifty persons inside the edifice, and wrought
great havoc on the high altar.
"2. That it knocked over and broke the pedestal on which the figure of
Christ was raised to the level of the altar-screen, though this figure
remained miraculously suspended in the same place--for this is what is
reported.
"3. That it carried off the curtain covering the panels of the altar
and threw it to the ground without breaking or melting any of its
rings, which were made only of copper, and without displacing the rod
above the ring-bolts on which they hung.
"4. That it upset the oil-lamp burning before the high altar.
"5. That it broke into two pieces the stone upon which the priest
consecrates the Host.
"6. That it tore into four pieces the card on which the canon of the
Mass was printed.
"7. That it tore the altar-cloth and the cloth which was over it--both
of them in an extraordinary way, namely, in the form of a cross of St.
Anthony.
"8. That the high altar was seen to be burning.
"9. That it burnt a part of the communion-cloth and of the tabernacle,
upon which it formed several black waves.
"10. Finally that it imprinted upon the altar-cloth the sacred words
of the consecration, beginning with _Qui pridie quam pateretur_, and
going down to _Hæc quotiescumque feceretis in mei memoriam facietis_,
inclusive; only omitting those which are usually set forth in special
characters, namely, _Hoc est Corpus meum_; _et Hic est Sanguis meus_.
"What, I repeat, can you expect unphilosophical minds to make of so
astonishing an affair as this? How account for the choice, the
discernment, and the mysterious preference 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 of the Saviour was left hanging? And of that strange imprint of
the cross? How resist all the thousand delusions and uncertainties and
fears the entire thing calls forth?
"I wonder whether the unfortunate Balthasar, when his eyes beheld the
terrible sight of the unknown hand inscribing upon the walls of his
banqueting-room the announcement of his doom, can have been a prey to
a greater variety of fears and 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 whether they
were the work of evil spirits or good. Some believed them to be the
work of good spirits, deducing this from the omission of the words,
_Hoc est Corpus_, etc., which they set down to a spirit of reverence
for the sacred mystery.
"Others believed them to be the work of evil spirits, but here again
there were different theories. Some held that bad spirits had
perpetrated these things out of sheer wickedness, 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, actuated more by mischief than sinfulness, and
wishing only to give amusement to themselves and others by the
quaintness of their pranks. I myself do not share any of those
theories."
Lamy's narrative proceeds to an examination of all the effects
recorded, which he explains in the simplest way in the world, without
having to have recourse to any occult causes. He comes, finally, to
the last of all and the most extraordinary.
"Not wishing to put trust in anything but my own eyes, I went to the
church myself, and the effects of the lightning I saw there repaid me
for the trouble.
"I examined carefully the new imprint on the cloth. I found it very
clear and fine, the letters well finished, but the ink a little
indistinct, perhaps I should say faded. As M. le Curé de Saint-Sauveur
(who was kind enough to show me everything) assured me that at 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 compared the
characters printed by the lightning with the original lettering, and
found that they corresponded exactly, except that they went from right
to left, backwards, so that they had to be read with the help of a
mirror, or else through the cloth from behind.
"I observed that the words which the lightning had not printed on the
cloth, but had omitted, were done in red letters on the card, and were
no more favoured nor ill-used than certain other marks without any
significance also printed in red upon the card, and leaving no trace
upon the altar-cloth."
The author proceeds to explain the so-called mystery, ascribing it to
the difference between the two inks--the thick black ink and the thin
red ink. He examines also into the other phenomena, explaining them
in the same way, like the sagacious and enlightened observer he was.
It is clear, then, that the study of the phenomena of lightning is no
new thing, and that it has been followed conscientiously for many
centuries.
In the case of the canon of the Mass printed by the lightning at
Lagny, the reproduction was by contact and pressure--it was not a case
of reproducing distant objects as though by photography. Here is
another case hardly less remarkable. The narrative is from the pen of
Isaac Casaubon, in his _Adversaria_:--
"On a summer's day, about 1595, while divine service was in progress
in the Cathedral at Wells, two or three thunderclaps were heard, of so
terrible a nature that the whole congregation threw themselves down on
the ground. Lightning followed at once, but no one was hurt. The
astonishing 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 being incredulous, she had shown it to him, and that
he himself found afterwards that he, too, was thus adorned--on his
arm, if I remember right. Some had it on their breast, some on their
shoulders. It is from the Bishop of Ely I have these facts, which he
tells me are well authenticated."
What shall we say now of the photographing of a landscape on the
inside of the skin of sheep which had been struck by lightning? The
record of this seems well authenticated.
In 1812, near the village of Combe-Hay, four miles from Bath, there
was a wood composed largely of oaks and nut trees. In the middle of it
was a field, about fifty yards long, in which six sheep were struck
dead by lightning. When skinned, there was discovered on them, on the
inside of the skin, a facsimile of part of the adjacent landscape.
These skins were exhibited at Bath.
This record was communicated by James Shaw to the Meteorological
Society of London at its session of March, 1857. Here are his own
words:--
"I may add that the small field and its surrounding wood were familiar
to me and my schoolmates, and that when the skins were shown to us we
at once identified the local scenery so wonderfully represented."
Andrès Poey tells us of these other curious cases:--
In the province of Sibacoa, Cuba, in August, 1823, lightning imprinted
on the trunk of a big tree a picture of a bent nail, which was to be
found, bent in the opposite direction, embedded in one of the upper
branches.
On July 24, 1852, in a plantation at St. Vincent in Cuba, a palm tree
was struck by lightning, and engraved on its dried leaves was a
picture of pine trees which surrounded it at a distance of nearly 400
yards.
Dr. Sestier tells us that after the 1850 meeting of the American
Association, a person was killed by lightning while standing up near a
whitewashed wall, and that his silhouette was fixed upon the wall in a
dark colour.
With such facts before us, we seem bound to believe in the existence
of some kind of especial rays, ceraunic rays, emitted by lightning,
and capable of photographing alike on the skin of human beings,
animals, and plants, more or less distinct pictures of objects far and
near.
Decidedly, we have much to learn in this as well as in all the other
branches of knowledge.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Academie des Sciences, Août 3, 1868.
[2] "Conjectures physiques sur les plus extraordinaires effets du
Tonnerre." Paris, MDCXCVI.
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.
[Illustration]
* * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Obvious typographical errors were corrected.
Duplicate title at the beginning was deleted.
Hyphenation and accent variants were changed to the most frequently
used in the original. Those occurring equally were retained (for
example: rainwater and rain-water).