A. Because the _wet clothes_ would form a far _better conductor_ than the _fluids of our body_; and, lightning would roll down the wet clothes, _without touching our body at all_. Q. _What is the SAFEST thing a person can do to avoid injury from lightning?_ A. He should draw his bedstead into the middle of his room, commit himself to the care of God, and go to bed; remembering that our Lord has said, "The very hairs of your head are all numbered." Q. _What is a LIGHTNING-CONDUCTOR?_ A. A metal rod fixed in the earth, running up the whole height of a building, and rising in a point above it. Q. _What metal is the best for this purpose?_ A. Stout copper wire. Q. _Why is COPPER wire better than iron?_ A. 1st--Because copper is a better conductor than iron: 2ndly--It is not so easily fused or melted: and 3rdly--It is not so much injured by weather. Q. _What is the GOOD of a lightning-conductor?_ A. Metal wire is a most excellent conductor; and as the lightning makes choice of the _best conductors_, it would run down the _metal wire_, rather than the _bricks_ of the building. Q. _How far will the beneficial influence of a lightning-conductor extend?_ A. It will protect a circumference all round, the diameter of which is (at least) 4 times as long as that part of the rod, which _rises above the building_. Q. _Give me an example._ A. If the rod rise 2 feet above the house, it will protect the building for (at least) 8 feet all round. Q. _Why are not lightning-conductors more generally used?_ A. Because they are often productive of more harm than good. Q. _How can lightning-conductors be productive of HARM?_ A. If the rod be _broken_ by weather or accident, the electric fluid (being obstructed in its path) will rend the building into fragments. Q. _Is there any OTHER evil to be apprehended from a lightning rod?_ A. Yes; if the rod be not big enough to conduct the _whole_ current to the earth, the lightning will _fuse_ the metal, and greatly injure the building. Q. _How stout is it needful for the copper wire to be, that it may conduct the fluid safely to the earth?_ A. It should be (at least) _one inch_ in diameter. Q. _Why does LIGHTNING sometimes KNOCK DOWN HOUSES and churches?_ A. The steeple, or chimney is first struck; the lightning then darts to the iron bars and cramps employed in the building; and (as it darts from bar to bar) shatters to atoms the bricks and stones, which oppose its progress. Q. _Can you tell me how St. Bride's Church (London) was nearly destroyed by lightning, about 100 years ago?_ A. The lightning first struck the metal vane, and ran down the rod; it then darted to the iron cramps, employed to support the building; and (as it flew from bar to bar) smashed the stones of the church, which lay between. Q. _Why did the lightning fly about from place to place, and not pass down in a straight course?_