Huge tongues of flame, sixty feet in height, shot up from the mouth of the shaft, and enormous columns of smoke rose high in the air, forming a great black pall over the scene of the explosion.
Coal is the carbonized remains of tree mosses. Oddly enough, these mosses were the big forefathers of the moss we know as lycopodium, which in a powdered state is used to produce flash signals. This will help to give an idea of the intensely inflammable nature of coal dust.
In the manufacture of linoleum no unprotected lights are allowed in the mixing department. This is on account of the great danger of exploding the cork dust floating in the air. An additional danger in linoleum making is that the mixture of cement and cork dust has the unpleasant property of spontaneously igniting if left in a warm place. It is, therefore, customary to mix the material a sackful at a time in order to reduce the risks of an explosion.
SOME ECCENTRICITIES OF LIGHTNING BOLTS.
TARGETS OF HEAVEN'S ARTILLERY.
Belief That the Electric Fluid Never
Strikes Twice in the Same Place Is
Shown to Be Wrong.
Among the duties assigned to the students of the Agricultural College at Guelph, Ontario, is that of gathering statistics concerning loss and damage from lightning in the province. The results thus obtained seem to show the value of lightning-rods, if properly adjusted, and the desirability of having trees standing near buildings. Summarizing the last annual report from the college, the Free Press, of London, Ontario, gives out the following novel facts:
As to the question does lightning strike twice in the same place, the report says that there may be warrant for the idea in the fact that where lightning ever strikes there is very little left to be struck a second time; but where a barn has once been struck and another barn has been erected on the same site, that second barn is just as likely to be struck as the first, and, in some instances, more likely.
The statistics compiled by the college show that in the five years since 1901 ninety-four trees were struck by lightning, as follows: Elm, 28; pine, 17; oak, 9; basswood, 7; maple, 7; ash, 4; poplar, 4; cedar, 3; apple, 3; hemlock, 2; willow, 2; spruce, beech, chestnut, balsam, hickory, butternut, and fir, 1 each.
The number of cattle killed in the same period was 114; sheep, 64; horses, 46; pigs, 4. Total, 228.