In this connection Stricker of Frankfort
quotes the case of Raspail of a man of twenty-two who, while
climbing a tree to a bird's nest, was struck by lightning, and
afterward showed upon his breast a picture of the tree, with the
nest upon one of its branches. Although in the majority of cases
the photographs resembled trees, there was one case in which it
resembled a horse-shoe; another, a cow; a third, a piece of
furniture; a fourth, the whole surrounding landscape. This theory
of lightning-photographs of neighboring objects on the skin has
probably arisen from the resemblance of the burns due to the
ramifications of the blood-vessels as conductors, or to peculiar
electric movements which can be demonstrated by positive charges
on lycopodium powder.
A lightning-stroke does not exhaust its force on a few
individuals or objects, but sometimes produces serious
manifestations over a large area, or on a great number of people.
It is said that a church in the village of Chateauneuf, in the
Department of the Lower Alps, in France, was struck by three
successive lightning strokes on July 11, 1819, during the
installation of a new pastor. The company were all thrown down,
nine were killed and 82 wounded.
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