CHAPTER VIII.

The art of drawing lightning from the clouds — Medals and tradi- tions that indicate the existence of that art in antiquity — Dis- guised under the name of the worship of Jupiter Elicius and of Zeus Cataibates; it was known to Numa and many others among the Ancients — The imitators of thunder made use of it — It may be traced from Prometheus ; it explains the fable of Salmonious : it was known to the Hebrews, and the construc- tion of the Temple of Jerusalem is a proof of this — Zoroaster made use of it to light tbe sacred fire, and operate in the ini- tiation of his followers : his experiments and miracles — If the Chaldeans possessed the secret, it was afterwards lost among them — There existed some traces of it in India in Ktesias' time — Wonders resembling those performed through this art, which, however, may be otherwise explained.
Of all scourges that alarm men for the preservation of their wealth and their lives, the most fearful, although perhaps the least destructive, is thunder. The fiery clouds ; — the roaring wind, — the shaking earth, — the dazzling lightning, — long peals of rolling thunder ; or, suddenly, a frightful crash, presaging the fall of celestial fire, redoubled in the distance by the mountain echoes ; all are so conducive in producing terror, that even the frequent repetition of these phenomena does not at all familiarise
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us with them, nor lessen the alarm of the multitude. Realizing every thing that a poetic imagination can pic- ture, and the menaces threatened by the priesthood, they are the most imposing of all the signs of divine wrath, and in addition they always present to the ignorant the direct feeling, that Heaven is warring against earth.
Trembling man will supplicate the Gods, and appeal to those privileged mortals whom the Gods have deigned to instruct in order to avert from his head this instrument of terror. The miracle which he would demand has been performed by the genius of the eighteenth century;* but, we may ask, was it known to the ancients ?
At first sight it seems absurd to admit such a suppo- sition ; for we are aware how little the ancients were in general acquainted with electricity. The horse of Tiberius at Rhodes, we are told, threw off sparks when strongly rubbed by the hand ; and another horse is men- tioned as being endowed with the same faculty. The father of Theodoric, and many others, had observed it on their own bodies :f yet these simple facts were ranked
* Admitting that the ancients were acquainted with the means of drawing lightning from the clouds, the merit of the invention of protecting our dwellings from its direful influence is not the less due to Dr. Franklin. That philosopher having demonstrated the identity of lightning and electricity, and that metals are its best conductors, recommended that pointed metallic rods should be raised some feet above the highest point of any building, and con- tinued down into the ground, as the best mode of securing the safety of the edifice during thunder storms. The pointed rods at- tract the lightning, which then passes along their surfaces, and is thus carried into the earth, instead of being scattered upon the building on which they are erected. — Ed.
* Damascius in Isidor. Vit. apud Phot. Biblioth. cod. 242. —
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among prodigies. We may also call to remembrance the superstitious terrors that were formerly awakened by the fire of Saint Elma shining on the masts of ships ; and the place the apparitions of light evidently held among the histories of supernatural events: to these proofs of ignorance, we may add the absurd belief in the pretended preservatives against lightning. Tarchon, in order to guard against thunder strokes, as he terms them, surrounded his dwelling with the white bryony.* Here, however, a legitimate suspicion is aroused. Tarchon, the disciple of the mysterious Tages,- — Tarchon, the founder of the Theurgism of the ancient Etrus- cans, might very probably have alleged the efficacy of these ridiculous means, in order to enable him more effectually to conceal the true secret that preserved his habitation and temple from lightning. A similar stratagem has perhaps been the reason why the property of averting lightning was attributed to the laurels that
" In winter, at Stockholm, the accumulation of animal electricity is quite perceptible ; a great quantity is visibly discharged when people undress in a warm apartment." James's Travels in Ger- many and Sweden. Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, tome xxxv. page 13. I have often, adds our author, made the same observation at Geneva ; and the Editor has done so, in this country, on draw- ing off silk stockings in a dark room.
* Columell. lib. x. vers, 346—347. In Hindustan, the property of averting thunder is attributed to certain plants ; and this is the reason these plants are seen on all the houses. The White Bryony, Biyonia Alba, is a common weed in the hedgerows and the woods in the South of Europe as well as in Hindustan. It is a climbing plant, with five-lobed, angular, cordate leaves, with cal- losities on both sides. The flowers are unisexual on the same plant, and the fruit berries of a black colour in clusters. It pos- sesses acrid and purgative properties. — Ed.
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surrounded the temple of Apollo, a virtue regarded as real in spite of the evidence throughout all antiquity to the contrary ; and which caused the laurel to be consecrated, until nearly our own time, in all poetical language.
The same may be alleged of the apparitions of light, of which ancient histories discourse. All cannot be false ; all cannot be accidental. We can produce all these bril- liant phenomena in the present day : is it wise, there- fore, we may ask, to deny that other ages have possessed the power of producing them ? To balance the reasons for doubting, we may oppose many other reasons in favour of the supposition. We will not argue from the numerous traditions on the art of turning away thunder. Neither will we scrutinize the origin of the religious precept, that ordered the Esthonians to close their doors and windows whenever there was a thunder storm, " for fear of allow- ing the evil spirit that God was then pursuing to enter."* This precept reminds us of the belief, not unfounded, that a current of air, especially humid air, will attract and conduct the thundery explosion. But what is the reason of another precept, which commanded this people to place two knives on the window-ledge, in order to dispel lightning ?f Whence arose the immemorial habit in the district of Lesneven,| of placing a piece of iron, during a thunder storm, in the nests of hens that are sitting ? Prac-
* Debray. On the Prejudices and Superstitions of the Livonians, Lethonians, and Esthonians. — Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, torn. xviii. p. 123.
f Ibid. ibid.
% Department of Finistère. — Cambry. Voyage dans le Depart- ment du Finistère, tome n. pp. 16, 17.
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tices of this nature, when observed in only one place, are of little importance ; but when they are found in places at considerable distances from one another, and among nations who have had no communication with each other, it is almost sufficient to prove that the science that dictated them was anciently possessed by men who carried instruction among these different nations. " In the Castle of Duino (says P. Imperati, a writer of the seventeenth century), there was a very ancient custom of proving lightning. The sentinel approached an iron pike, or a bar of iron, erected upon the wall, and the moment he perceived a spark, he rang the alarm bell, to warn the shepherds to retire to their homes." In the fifteenth century, St. Bernardin, of Sienna,* reprobated, as superstitious, the precaution used in all ages of fixing a naked sword on the mast of a vessel to avert the tempest.