Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 150, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 June 1913 — How Lightning Kills. [ARTICLE]

How Lightning Kills.

The cause of death by lightning la the sudden absorption of the electric current When a thundercloud which la highly charged with positive electricity hangs over a certain place, the earth beneath It becomes abnormally charged with the negative electric current and a man, animal f> r other object standing or lying directly beaeath, also partakes of the' last mentioned Influence. If, while the man, animal or other object is In this condition, a discharge takes place from the cloud above the restoration of the equilibrium will be sudden and violent or, in language that we can all understand, the negative current from the earth will rush op to Join the positive cloud current and in passing through the object which separates the two currents, if it be an animate thing, will do so with such force as to almost invariably produce Instant death. According to the above, which seems a tenable hypothesis, to say the least a person Is really “struck’’ by the ground current and not by the locked fury from above at all.