Page:Philosophical Transactions - Volume 054.pdf/290

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Under the corniche, the lightning descended only by leaping from one iron to another; and at every leap its force seems to have been weakened, and at last to have been quite dissipated.

On examining the inside of the steeple beginning from the top, the first effect of the lightning that appears is a hole in the stone work at B, beginning immediately above an iron bar which served to support the top of the window or opening, and running upwards towards the two cross iron bars: this, when viewed from the outside of the church, is seen to have spread round most of the lower part of the spire, so that it seems in great danger of falling.

The next stroke is about four feet below: at this place four iron bars lie horizontally across the spire, and are tied together by chain bars which are inclosed in the stonework: where the end of one of the cross bars is inserted in the stone, the lightning has burst open the hole described at C, and, when the same is viewed at the outside, a great part of the corniche appears to be broken off.

At D, where the two iron bars serving to support the top of the windows meet and are joined together, the lightning accumulated in them has broken of the pier by which they were inclosed.

At Fig 2, a bar of iron, which served to support the top of the window in the same manner as those last mentioned, 21 inches long clear of the stonework, and half an inch thick, is broke and bent into the position expressed in the drawing; and the stones immediately above it are shattered and disjointed.

The sills of two windows of this story are torn off from iron bars which lay beneath them.

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