LIGHTNING, ACCIDENTS FROM. Statistics have been kept for ninny years, both in Europe and America. the frequency of lightning strokes and the destruction done by them. Thus, according to the report of the Registrar-General for England, iu 1871, 28 persons were killed; all but 5 were men and were chiefly laborers iu the open air. In 1875 17 were killed, and in 1877 only 10. Out of 103 deaths in five years 0852-56) there were 38 in July and :22 in Au gust. According to Hellmann, in Schleswig Holstein, during the decade 1874-83, the annual average of destructive lightning strokes per million of buildings was 163 for slate or metal. roofs, 386 fur wooden or thatched roofs. 6277 for chimneys, 8524 for windmills, and 306 for fac tories and steam chimneys. The danger to build ings in the open country is five times greater than in the cities. The number of deaths of human beings on the average of fifteen years per mil lion is 4 in Prussia and Baden and 3 in France and Sweden. The danger to buildings erected on chalk or marl is very small, but on clay or sand larger. Among forest trees the oak is most frequently struck and the beech least frequently. The records from 1833 to 1882, according to Von Bezold, show that there is a steady increase in the recorded number of strokes; possibly this may be explained by the increased care in collect ing data. According to Prof. A. J. Henry, the
records of the United States Weather Bureau show that during 1898 throughout the United States, excluding Alaska, the number of deaths by lightning was 367, and the number of in juries 491. The proportion of deaths to the popu lation was greatest in the Upper Missouri Valley and portions of the Rocky Mountain region. The proportion of deaths by lightning to the total population was about 5 per million, which is higher than the average of most countries, owing to the large proportion of our agricultural population. Nine hundred and sixty-six barns or sheds, 735 dwellings, stores, or offices, 95 churches and schools, and 70 other buildings were struck and damaged. the approximate loss being about $1,500.000. Of the buildings struck 40 were provided with lightning-rods. S55 were not ; and in 952 eases this item was not recorded. Nine hundred and sixty-four head of cattle, 306 horses, 30 mules, 426 sheep. 116 hogs were killed, the total value of the stock being $48.257. The continuous barbed wire fences that are used over the Western prairies are said to increase greatly the number of cattle killed by lightning, as these seek shelter in some corner of the field and the lightning runs to them along the wire from very considerable distances.