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1. Accompanying Note to Portions of Lead from the Roof of the Lower Storey of Nelson's Monument, injured by Lightning on the evening of 4th February 1863

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2014

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Extract

The portions of sheet-lead above mentioned had attracted my attention on the days following the 4th of February, when engaged in repairing some damage which had then occurred to the electric wires connecting the Nelson Monument and the Observatory; and finding that plumbers (employed by the Town-Council) were removing the old lead and substituting new in its place, and being also encouraged by Professor P. G. Tait, who with me visited the spot, to believe that the markings which had been discovered were electrically of unusual interest, I lost no time in applying to Mr J. D. Marwick, town-clerk, for those portions of the leaden covering which contained the marks in question, with the View of presenting them to the Royal Society.

Type
Proceedings 1862-63
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1866

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References

page 107 note * These globules had very imperfect adhesion, and had mostly dropped off when the plate was presented to the Royal Society; but some few of the more distant ones still remained, and all the others had left marks, usually of a yellowish colour, showing their former positions, sizes, and shapes.

page 111 note * Professor Tait has also remarked, and it seems well worthy to be noted as a memorandum for any future occasion, that it would have been advisable to have preserved the boarding at “A,” as well as the lead; for the manner of action and of piercing through wood by lightning is very different to the burning action of flame; and thick wooden planking was everywhere interposed between the gas-pipe and the leaden roof.