We know, indeed, the preference of the spark for metals; we know it nurses a veritable passion for nails, wire, bell-pulls, that it dotes on rain-spouts, leaden pipes, and telegraph wires, that it is very feminine in its adoration of jewels, which it sublimates sometimes with a truly fantastic dexterity.
Now and then lightning deviates from its path, and performs acrobatic feats, elfin capers to reach the objects it covets. On April 24, 1842, it struck the church of Brexton, springing on the cross of the steeple at first and running down the stem, but, arrived at the masonry which supported it, broke it into pieces; then with one bound it fell upon a second conductor, whose support was also broken. Finally, it struck a third conductor much lower down.
The fluid often searches for metals hidden beneath non-conductors, which it breaks or pierces. It avoids the mattress to pursue the iron of the bed, glances off the windows to glide over the curtain-rods, or the lead of the sash. It has been seen to penetrate thick walls to reach the iron safes hidden behind them.
We have already mentioned the case of the woman who, without having been killed, had her ear-ring split. Well, we have a certain number of similar examples to that.
On June 1, 1809, in a boarding-school for young ladies, at Bordeaux, a gold chain, worn by one of the young ladies, was melted by the lightning, which left a black indented line in its place, which, however, soon passed off. The lady was struck, but recovered consciousness within a few hours, being none the worse. Her slender chain, worn in three rows round her neck, had been cut into five pieces. Some of the fragments showed signs of fusion, and had been carried to a distance.
Other examples, in which the consequences were more dramatic, will show ladies the dangers of a love of adornment.
On September 21, 1901, during a violent thunderstorm which burst over the region of Narbonne, a fireball fell in the domain of Castelou. A young girl of fourteen was fatally struck by the meteor. The gold chain which she wore round her throat was completely evaporated. There was not a trace of it to be found.
It is not unusual to see gold chains broken, melted, partially or completely, in the pocket which had held them.
Thus, lightning melted a watch and chain into a single lump in the pocket of a man killed on board a passenger boat.
Bracelets, hairpins, and even precious stones are sometimes very strangely altered.