Endless Amusement Part 23

Experiments afterwards made on lightning obtained from the clouds by pointed rods, received into bottles, and subjected to every trial, have since proved this suspicion to be perfectly well founded; and that, whatever properties we find in electricity, are also the properties of lightning.

This matter of lightning, or of electricity, is an extreme subtle fluid, penetrating other bodies, and subsisting in them, equally diffused.

When, by any operation of art or nature, there happens to be a greater proportion of this fluid in one body than in another, the body which has most will communicate to that which has least, till the proportion becomes equal, provided the distance between them be not too great; or, if it be too great, till there be proper conductors to convey it from one to the other.

If the communication be through the air, without any conductor, a bright light is seen between the bodies, and a sound is heard. In small experiments, we call this light and sound the electric spark and snap; but in the great operations of nature, the light is what we call _lightning_, and the sound (produced at the same time, though generally arriving later at our ears than the light does in our eyes) is, with its echoes, called _thunder_.

If the communication of this fluid be by a conductor, it may be without either light or sound, the subtle fluid pa.s.sing in the substance of the conductor.

If the conductor be good, and of sufficient bigness, the fluid pa.s.ses through it without hurting it. If otherwise, it is damaged or destroyed.

All metals, and water, are good conductors. Other bodies may become conductors by having some quant.i.ty of water in them, as wood and other materials used in building, but not having much water in them, are not good conductors, and therefore are often damaged in the operation.

Gla.s.s, wax, silk, wool, hair, feathers, and even wood perfectly dry, are non-conductors: that is, they resist instead of facilitating the pa.s.sage of this subtle fluid.

When this fluid has an opportunity of pa.s.sing through two conductors, one good and sufficient, as of metal, the other not so good, it pa.s.ses in the best, and will follow in any direction.

The distance at which a body charged with this fluid will discharge itself suddenly, striking through the air into another body that is not charged, or not so highly charged, is different according to the quant.i.ty of the fluid, the dimensions and form of the bodies themselves, and the state of the air between them. This distance, whatever it happens to be between any two bodies, is called their striking _distance_, as, till they come within that distance of each other, no stroke will be made.

The clouds have often more of this fluid in proportion than the earth: in which case, as soon as they come near enough, (that is, within the striking distance,) or meet with a conductor, the fluid quits them and strikes into the earth. A cloud fully charged with this fluid, if so high as to be beyond the striking distance from the earth, pa.s.ses quietly without making noise or giving light, unless it meet with other clouds that have less.

Tall trees and lofty buildings, as the towers and spires of churches, become sometimes conductors between the clouds and the earth; but, not being good ones, that is, not conveying the fluid freely, they are often damaged.

Buildings that have their roofs covered with lead, or other metal, and spouts of metal continued from the roof into the ground to carry off the water, are never hurt by lightning, as, whenever it falls on such a building, it pa.s.ses in the metals and not in the walls.

When other buildings happen to be within the striking distance from such clouds, the fluid pa.s.ses in the walls, whether of wood, brick, or stone, quitting the wall only when it can find better conductors near them, as metal rods, bolts, and hinges of windows or doors, gilding on wainscot, or frames of pictures, the silvering on the backs of looking-gla.s.ses, the wires for bells, and the bodies of animals, so containing watery fluids. And in pa.s.sing through the house it follows the direction of these conductors, taking as many in its way as can a.s.sist in its pa.s.sage, whether in a straight or crooked line, leaping from one to the other, if not far distant from each other, only rending the wall in the s.p.a.ces where these partial good conductors are too distant from each other.

An iron rod being placed on the outside of a building, from the highest part continued down into the moist earth, in any direction, straight or crooked, following the form of the roof or other parts of the building, will receive the lightning at its upper end, attracting it so as to prevent its striking any other part; and, affording it a good conveyance into the earth, will prevent its damaging any part of the building.

A small quant.i.ty of metal is found able to conduct a quant.i.ty of this fluid. A wire no higher than a goose-quill has been known to conduct (with safety to the building, as far as the wire was continued) a quant.i.ty of lightning that did prodigious damage both above and below it; and probably larger rods are not necessary, though it is common in America to make them of half an inch, some three-quarters, or an inch, diameter.

The rod may be fastened to the wall, chimney, &c., with staples of iron. The lightning will not leave the rod (a good conductor) to pa.s.s into the wall (a bad conductor) through those staples. It would rather, if any were in the wall, pa.s.s out of it into the rod, to get more readily by that conductor into the earth.

If the building be very large and extensive, two or more rods may be placed in different parts, for greater security.

Small ragged parts of clouds, suspended in the air between the great body of clouds and the earth, (like leaf gold in electrical experiments,) often serve as partial conductors for the lightning, which proceeds from one of them to another, and by their help comes within the striking distance to the earth or a building. It therefore strikes, through those conductors, a building that would otherwise be out of the striking distance.

Long sharp points communicating with the earth, and presented to such parts of clouds, drawing silently from them the fluid they are charged with, they are then attracted to the cloud, and may leave the distance so great as to be beyond the reach of striking.

It is therefore that we elevate the upper end of the rod, six or eight feet above the highest part of the building, tapering it gradually to a fine sharp point, which is gilt, to prevent its rusting.

Thus the pointed rod either presents a stroke from the cloud, or if a stroke be made, conducts it to the earth, with safety to the building.

The lower end of the rod should enter the earth so deep as to come at the moist part, perhaps two or three feet; and if bent when under the surface, so as to go in a horizontal line six or eight feet from the wall, and then bent again downwards three or four feet, it will prevent damage to any of the stones of the foundation.

A person apprehensive of danger from lightning, happening during the time of thunder to be in a house not so secured, will do well to avoid sitting near the chimney, near a looking-gla.s.s, or any gilt pictures or wainscot; the safest place is in the middle of the room, (so it be not under a metal l.u.s.tre suspended by a chain,) sitting in one chair and laying the feet up in another. It is still safer to bring two or three mattresses or beds into the middle of the room, and, folding them up double, place the chair upon them; for they, not being so good conductors as the walls, the lightning will not choose an interrupted course through the air of the room and the bedding, when it can go through a continued better conductor, the wall. But where it can be had, a hammock or swinging-bed, suspended by silk cords equally distant from the walls on every side, and from the ceiling and floor above and below, affords the safest situation a person can have in any room whatever; and what, indeed, may be deemed quite free from danger of any stroke by lightning.

_The Leech, a Prognosticator of the Weather._

Confine a leech in a large phial, three parts filled with rain water, regularly changed twice a week, and placed on a window frame, fronting the north. In fair and frosty weather it lies motionless, and rolled up in a spiral form, at the bottom of the gla.s.s: but prior to rain or snow, it creeps up to the top, where if the rain will be heavy and of some continuance, it remains a considerable time; if trifling, it quickly descends. Should the rain or snow be accompanied with wind, it darts about its habitation with amazing celerity, and seldom ceases until it begins to blow hard. If a storm of thunder or lightning be approaching, it is exceedingly agitated, and expresses its feelings in violent convulsive starts, at the top of the gla.s.s. It is remarkable that however fine and serene the weather may be, and not the least indication to change, either from the sky, the barometer, or any other cause whatsoever, yet, if the animal ever s.h.i.+ft its position, or move in a desultory manner, so certain will the coincident results occur, within thirty-six hours, frequently within twenty-four, and sometimes in twelve; though its motions chiefly depend on the fall and duration of the wet, and the strength of the wind.

_The Awn of Barley an Hydrometer._

The awn of barley is furnished with stiff points, which, like the teeth of a saw, are all turned towards the point of it; as this long awn lies upon the ground, it extends itself in the moist air of night, and pushes forward the barley-corn, which it adheres to in the day; it shortens as it dries; and, as these points prevent it from receding, it draws up its pointed end, and thus, creeping like a worm, will travel many feet from the parent stem. That very ingenious mechanic philosopher, Mr. Edgworth, once made on this principle a wooden automaton: its back consisted of soft fir-wood, about an inch square, and four feet long, made of pieces cut the cross-way in respect to the fibres of the wood, and glued together; it had two feet before, and two behind, which supported the back horizontally, but were placed with their extremities, which were armed with sharp points of iron, bending backwards. Hence, in moist weather, the back lengthened, and the two foremost feet were pushed forwards; in dry weather the hinder feet were drawn after, as the obliquity of the points of the feet prevented it from receding.

_The Power of Water when reduced to Vapour by Heat._

Whatever force water may have while its parts remain together, is nothing, if compared to the almost incredible power with which its parts are endued, when they are reduced to vapour by heat. Those steams which we see rising from the surface of boiling water, and which to us appear feeble, yet, if properly conducted, acquire immense force. In the same manner as gunpowder has but small effect, if suffered to expand at large, so the steam issuing from water is impotent, where it is permitted to evaporate into the air; but where confined in a narrow compa.s.s, as, for instance, where it rises in an iron tube shut up on every side, it there exerts all the wonders of its strength. _Muschenbrook_ has proved by experiment, that the force of gunpowder is feeble when compared to that of rising steam. A hundred and forty pounds of gunpowder blew up a weight of thirty thousand pounds: but, on the other hand, a hundred and forty pounds of water, converted by heat into steam, lifted a weight of seventy-seven thousand pounds; and would lift a much greater, if there were means of giving the steam more heat with safety; for the hotter the steam the greater is its force.

_Artificial Memory._

In travelling along a road, the sight of the more remarkable scenes we meet with, frequently puts us in mind of the subjects we were thinking or talking of when we last saw them. Such facts, which were perfectly familiar, even to the vulgar, might very naturally suggest the possibility of a.s.sisting the memory, by establis.h.i.+ng a connexion between the ideas we wish to remember, and certain sensible objects, which have been found from experience to make a permanent impression on the mind. It was said, that a person contrived a method of committing to memory the sermons which he was accustomed to hear, by fixing his attention, during the different heads of the discourse, on different compartments of the roof of the church, in such a manner as, that when he afterwards saw the roof, or remembered the order in which its compartments were disposed, he recollected the method which the preacher had observed in treating his subject. This contrivance was perfectly a.n.a.logous to the topical memory of the ancients; an art which, whatever be the opinion we entertain of its use, is certainly ent.i.tled, in a high degree, to the praise of ingenuity.

Suppose you fix in your memory the different apartments in some very large building, and that you had accustomed yourself to think of these apartments always in the same invariable order. Suppose further, that, in preparing yourself for a public discourse, in which you had occasion to treat of a great variety of particulars, you were anxious to fix in your memory the order you proposed to observe in the communication of your ideas. It is evident, that by a proper division of your subject into heads, and by connecting each head with a particular apartment, (which you could easily do, by conceiving yourself to be sitting in the apartment while you were studying the part of your discourse you mean to connect with it,) the habitual order in which these apartments occurred to your thoughts, would present to you in the proper arrangement, and without any effort on your part, the ideas of which you were to treat. It is also obvious, that very little practice would enable you to avail yourself of this contrivance, without any embarra.s.sment or distraction of your attention.

_To procure Hydrogen Gas._

Provide a phial with a cork stopper, through which is thrust a piece of tobacco-pipe. Into the phial put a few pieces of zinc, or small iron nails; on this pour a mixture, of equal parts of sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) and water, previously mixed in a tea-cup, to prevent accidents. Replace the cork stopper, with a piece of tobacco-pipe in it; the hydrogen gas will then be liberated through the pipe into a small steam. Apply the flame of a candle or taper to this steam, and it will immediately take fire, and burn with a clear flame until all the hydrogen in the phial be exhausted. In this experiment the zinc or iron, by the action of the acid, becomes oxygenized, and is dissolved, thus taking the oxygen from the sulphuric acid and water; the hydrogen (the other const.i.tuent part of the water) is thereby liberated, and ascends.

_To fill a Bladder with Hydrogen Gas._

Apply a bladder, previously wetted and compressed, in order to squeeze out all the common air, to the piece of tobacco-pipe inserted in the cork stopper of the phial, (as described in the experiment above.) The bladder will thus be filled with hydrogen gas.

_Exploding Gas Bubbles._

Adapt the end of a common tobacco-pipe to a bladder filled with hydrogen gas, and dip the bowl of the pipe into soap-suds, prepared as if for blowing up soap bubbles; squeeze out small portions of gas from the bladder into the soap-suds, and the bubbles will ascend into the air with very great rapidity, until they are out of sight. If a lighted taper or candle be applied to the bubbles as they ascend from the bowl of the pipe, they will explode with a loud noise.

_Another Method._

Put a small quant.i.ty of phosphorus and some potash, dissolved in water, into a retort; apply the flame of a candle or lamp to the bottom of the retort, until the contents boil. The phosphuretted hydrogen gas will then rise, and may be collected in receivers. But it, instead of receiving the gas into a jar, you let it simply ascend into water, the bubbles of gas will then explode in succession, as they reach the surface of the water, and a beautiful white smoke will be formed, which rises slowly and majestically to the ceiling. If bits of phosphorus are kept some hours in hydrogen gas, phosphorized hydrogen gas is produced: and if bubbles of this gas are thrown up into the receiver of an air-pump, previously filled with oxygen gas, a brilliant bluish flame will immediately fill the jar.

_Singular Impression on the visual Nerves by a Luminous Object._

If, while sitting in a room, you look earnestly at the middle of a window, a little while, when the day is bright, and then shut your eyes, the figure of the window will still remain in your eye, and so distinct that you may count the panes. A remarkable circ.u.mstance attending this experiment is, that the impression of forms is better retained than that of colours; for, after the eyes are shut, when you first discern the image of the window, the panes appear dark, and the cross-bars of the sashes, with the window frames and walls, appear white and bright; but if you still add to the darkness of the eyes, by covering them with your hand, the reverse instantly takes place--the panes appear luminous, and the cross-bars dark; and by removing the hand, they are again reversed.

_Curious Effects of Oil upon Water, and Water upon Oil._

Fasten a piece of pack-thread round a tumbler, with strings of the same from each side, meeting above it in a knot at about a foot distance from the top of the tumbler. Then putting in as much water as will fill about one-third part of the tumbler, lift it up by the knot, and swing it to and fro in the air; the water will keep its place as steadily in the gla.s.s as if it were ice. But pour gently in upon the water about as much oil, and then again swing it in the air as before, the tranquillity before possessed by the water will be transferred to the surface of the oil, and the water under it will be violently agitated.