Tradition says that Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, was initiated by the priests of the Etruscan divinities, and instructed by them in the secret of forcing Jupiter, the Thunderer, to descend upon earth. Salverte believes that before Franklin discovered his refined electricity, Numa had experimented with it most successfully, and that Tullus Hostilius, the successor of Numa, was the first victim of the dangerous “heavenly guest” recorded in history. Salverte remarks that Pliny makes use of expressions which seem to indicate two distinct processes; the one obtained thunder (impetrare), the other forced it to lightning (cogere). Tracing back the knowledge of thunder and lightning possessed by the Etruscan priests, we find that Tarchon, the founder of the theurgism of the former, desiring to preserve his house from lightning, surrounded it by a hedge of the white bryony, a climbing plant which has the property of averting thunderbolts. The Temple of Juno had its roofs covered with numerous pointed blades of swords. Ben David, says the author of “Occult Sciences,” has asserted that Moses (born about 1570 B.C.) possessed some knowledge of the phenomena of electricity. Prof. Hirt, of Berlin, is of this opinion. Michaelis remarks that there is no indication that lightning ever struck the Temple of Jerusalem during a thousand years: that, according to Josephus, a forest of points, of gold and very sharp, covered the roof of the temple, and that this roof communicated with the caverns in the hill by means of pipes in connection with the gilding which covered all the exterior of the building, in consequence of which the points would act as conductors. Salverte further asserts that in the days of Ctesias—Ktesias—India was acquainted with the use of conductors of lightning. This historian plainly states that iron placed at the bottom of a fountain, and made in the form of a sword, with the point upward, possessed, as soon as it was thus fixed in the ground, the property of averting storms and lightning.
“Ancient India, as described by Ktesias, the Knidian,” J. H. McCrindle, London, 1882, alludes, p. 68, to iron swords employed to ward off lightning. Reference is made to the pantarbe at pp. 7–8, 69–70, and to the elektron (amber) at pp. 20, 21, 23, 51, 52, 70, 86. See account of Ktesias in “Nouvelle Biogr. Génér.,” Vol. XII. pp. 568–571, and in “Larousse Dict.,” Vol. V. p. 614.
In his “Observations sur la Physique,” Vols. XXIV. pp. 321–323, XXV. pp. 297–303, XXVI. pp. 101–107, M. l’Abbé Rosier gives the correspondence between M. de Michaelis, Professor at Göttingen, and Mr. Lichtenberg, showing conclusively how the numerous points distributed over the surface of the roof of the Temple of Solomon effectively served as lightning conductors. Mr. Lichtenberg in addition shows that the bell tower located upon a hill at the country seat of Count Orsini de Rosenberg, was, during a period of several years, so repeatedly struck by lightning, with great loss of life, that divine service had to be suspended in the church. The tower was entirely destroyed in 1730 and soon after rebuilt, but it was struck as often as ten times during one prolonged storm, until finally a fifth successive attack, during the year 1778, compelled its demolition. For the third time the tower was reconstructed, and the Count placed a pointed conductor, since which time no damage has been sustained.
References.—Mme. Blavatsky, “Isis Unveiled,” 1877, Vol. I. pp. 142, 457, 458, 527, 528, and her references to Ovid, “Fast,” lib. iii. v. 285–346; Titus Livius, lib. i. cap. 31; Pliny, “Hist. Nat.,” lib. ii. cap. 53 and lib. xxviii. cap. 2; Lucius Calp, Piso; Columella, lib. x. v. 346, etc.; La Boissière, “Notice sur les Travaux de l’Académie du Gard,” part I. pp. 304–314; “Bell. Jud. adv. Roman,” lib. v. cap. 14; “Magas. Sc. de Göttingen,” 3e année 5e cahier; Ktesias, in “India ap. Photum. Bibl. Cod.,” 72. See also, De La Rive, “Electricity,” London, 1858, Vol. III, chap. ii. p. 90; “Encycl. Brit.,” 8th ed., article “Electricity”; Lardner, “Lectures,” II. p. 99; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. II. pp. 502–504; Boccalini, “Parnassus,” Century I. chap. xlvi. alluded to at p. 24, Vol. I. of Miller’s “Retrospect”; Gouget, “Origin of Laws,” Vol. III. book 3; Themistius, Oratio 27, p. 337; “Agathias Myrenaeus de rebus gestis Justiniani,” lib. v. p. 151; Dutens, “Origine des découvertes ...”; “Gentleman’s Magazine” for July 1785, p. 522; Falconer, “Mem. of Lit. and Phil. Soc. of Manchester,” Vol III. p. 278; “Sc. Amer.,” No. 7. p. 99; E. Salverte, “Phil. of Magic,” 1847, Vol. II. chaps. viii. and ix.; “Fraser’s Magazine” for 1839; H. Martin, Paris, 1865–6; P. F. von Dietrich, Berlin, 1784.
Caius Plinius Secundus. Page taken from earliest known edition of the Naturalis Historiae Venetiis 1469, of which there are only three known original vellum copies. These are now at Vienna, Ravenna and in the Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève, Paris.
Title page of Aristotle’s “De Naturali Auscultatione,” Paris 1542. The property of Dr. William Gilberd, when at Cambridge, inscribed with his name and that of Archdeacon Thomas Drant. (From the Library of Dr. Silvanus. P. Thompson.)
B.C. 588.—The earliest reliable record of messages transmitted by the sign of fire is to be found in the book of Jeremiah, vi. 1: “O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Beth-haccerem; for evil appeareth out of the north and great destruction.”
References.—Turnbull, “Electro-magnetic Telegraph,” 1853, p. 17; Knight’s “Mech. Dict.,” Vol. III. p. 2092; Penny and other Encyclopædias.