Abstract
ON the 25th of last month a violent thunderstorm occurred at Preston, in Lancashire. The spire of St. Walburge's Church, which is, perhaps, the highest point in the town, was struck by lightning, some curious phenomena resulting. The lightning conductor, a rope composed of forty-two copper wires in six strands, was ruptured at about sixty feet from the ground. The wires were untwisted and spread out, the ends fused, and some of them turned up like hooks. The discharge passed obliquely through the tower wall for a distance of about three yards to a gas-pipe inside. In its passage it wrenched a piece of stone weighing 66lb. from an immense block, casting it to a distance of a hundred feet, besides literally tearing off other large masses. Before reaching the gas-pipe it projected some bricks against the opposite interior wall, shattering them to pieces. The gaspipe was severed and the lower portion curled completely round. Thence it passed to the gas-meter and dislocated many pipes beyond. The effect upon one leaden pipe was singular, holes were fused into it, in some cases right through, the molten metal being scattered about. Another discharge passed down a conductor at the west end of the church. The conductor itself was not ruptured, but a gas-pipe close to it was broken and a piece about a yard long was projected to a distance of forty feet, the gas meanwhile having ignited. Within the church, too, where there happened to be a leakage, the gas also ignited. It was further observed next morning that round about the church hundreds upon hundreds of worms were dead or dying.
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WILLIAMS, S. Thunderstorm at Preston. Nature 3, 509 (1871). https://doi.org/10.1038/003509c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/003509c0
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