The amount of destruction of life and property by lightning, or rather
electrical discharges, has been very great throughout the world.
It is estimated that at least 45 persons are killed annually by
lightning in this country. The average number of deaths by lightning
has been 22 in England, 9 in Switzerland, 3 in Belgium, and 75 in
France. In France alone, during a period of thirty years, over 10,000
persons were smitten, of which 2,252 were instantly killed. Eighty
were wounded and 9 killed during one thunderstorm at Chateauneuf les
Montiers in 1861, and within one week, when the air was highly charged
with electricity, thirty-three fearful flashes of lightning were
observed, each bringing death to some victims.
During the sixteen years between 1799 and 1816, 156 vessels of the
British navy were struck by lightning; 73 men were killed and 138
injured, and the loss of materials amounted to over a million dollars;
but since the system of metallic conductors, adapted for vessels,
devised by Sir W. Snow Harris, has been applied to the vessels in that
navy, the losses and damages by lightning have almost entirely ceased,
although the number of vessels has been greatly increased.
In Fuller's Church History it is stated that "scarcely a great
abbey in England exists which once, at least, was not burned down by
lightning from heaven."
On the night of April, 1718, twenty-four steeples were struck along
the coast of Brittany; and on the 11th of January, 1815, twelve
steeples suffered a similar fate in the Rhenish provinces.
On the 27th of July, 1759, lightning burnt all the woodwork of the
great cathedral at Strasbourg; and on the 14th of August, 1833, it was
struck three times within a quarter of an hour, and so much damaged
that the repairs cost about $6,000,000. In 1835 lightning conductors
were placed upon the building and steeple, and since then it has
not been damaged whatever by lightning, although discharges have on
several occasions occurred in line with the top of the steeple, which
is 437 feet above the ground.
On the 18th of August, 1769, the Tower of St. Nazaire, at Brescia,
was struck, and the subterranean powder magazine, containing 2,076,000
lbs. of powder, belonging to the Republic of Venice, was exploded.
One sixth of the whole town was laid in ruins and the rest very much
injured, and about 3,000 persons killed.
On the 26th of June, 1807, the powder magazine of Luxembourg,
containing 28,000 lbs., was struck, and besides about 30 persons
killed and 200 injured, the town was ruined.
Explosions and large fires, involving a great loss, have become rather
frequent in this country, owing to the iron tanks used for the storage
of petroleum being struck by lightning. From March to August, in 1876,
over 10,000,000 gallons, and on April 19, 1877, over 2,000,000 gallons
of oil, and the village of Troutman, were destroyed in the oil regions
of Pennsylvania.
Some of the thunderstorms which have prevailed in this country have
been very terrific and destructive. During August 14th, 15th, and
16th, 1872, portions of New York State and the New England States were
visited by some of the most terrific thunderstorms ever experienced,
during which over 200 dwellings were struck and damaged, about 10
persons were instantly killed, and 160 stunned. Quite a number of
barns, with their contents, hay and cattle, were also struck, fired,
and consumed. Cars, while running on some of the railroads, were
surrounded by a vivid electric light, but no passengers were injured,
although they were greatly alarmed. Telegraph wires were melted by the
half mile, telegraph instruments broken, and poles shattered in all
directions. One of these storms occurred at midnight, at Arlington,
Mass., August 14th, in which brilliant streams of electricity darted
across the sky in every direction, and the thunder which followed was
constant for a period of thirteen minutes, without the intermission
of an instant of silence. Three hundred and thirty-one discharges
were counted in seven minutes by an observer, and each discharge was
followed by loud and sometimes rattling reports, whose reverberations
rolled through the heavens in an endless procession of majestic and
terrific sounds. During this scene, the moon, which was about half an
hour above the western horizon, was visible, but so magnified, through
the haze and vapor, as to appear like a brilliant flame suspended in
the sky. For a period of twenty minutes the scene was one of grandeur
and sublimity rarely witnessed.
In the States of Illinois and Iowa, and the prairie country west of
the Mississippi river, thunderstorms are generally more terrific, and
more lives have been lost there from the effects of lightning than
in any other section of this country. Owing to the said country being
level and devoid of trees, the equilibrium between the electricity
of the atmosphere and that of the earth is principally restored by
disruptive discharges.--_Spang's "Treatise on Lightning Protection"_
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A tooth of a mastodon has been dug up near the Ashley river in South
Carolina. It is 111/2 inches long, 6 inches in diameter, and weighs more
than 5 lbs.
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