America stands pre-eminent above other countries in the numerous and extraordinary schemes that have there been promulgated in regard to the protection of buildings from the effects of lightning, and probably no other nation has been so systematically victimised and swindled in this matter. The tramping ‘lightning-rod men’ of the United States are notorious for extortion and ignorance: they use all kinds of fantastic and peculiar shaped terminal rods and conductors, the main object being to make as great a show with as little metal as possible. Their work is almost entirely confined to the upper portion of the conductor, to the neglect of the most important part--the earth terminal. In consequence, the majority of the lightning conductors in America are untrustworthy; very often they are practically insulated from the ‘common reservoir’ or subterraneous water, and are therefore more often a source of danger than a protection. Unhappily, these peripatetic mechanics are by no means extinct, although increased knowledge is gradually driving them from the field. In America, a strong point is made of utilising, as far as possible, all the existing natural conductors that are to be found upon a building, such as gutters, rain-pipes, and other metal surfaces. During a tempest, the opposite electricities of the earth and the air often select, by their inductive influence, a rain-pipe, gutter, metal roof, &c., for the passage of an electric discharge between them, and unless these metallic surfaces are connected with the earth, they are apt to be dangerous. But if they are properly connected together, and provided with a good earth-contact, they materially assist to diminish the intensity of a discharge. In the case of a building with a roof of slate, wood, or other material of low conductivity, a conductor made of either bar iron or stranded cable is placed along the ridge and gable ends, and carefully connected with the gutters and rain-pipes; where the rain-pipes are less than three inches in diameter, the bar or cable conductor is often extended from the roof down the side of the building, and connected with the earth terminal. When this is done, the bar or cable conductor is placed between the rain-pipe and the wall of the building, or at any rate close to the rain-pipe, and connected with it by solder or bolts. All metallic chimney caps, cornices and railings on the tops of buildings, as well as the water-pipes, gas-pipes, hot water-pipes, and other large or long pieces of metal, whether they occur inside or outside the building, are connected with each other by a conductor composed of light stranded wires, each about three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter; they are also connected with the main conductor at its nearest point. Where several adjacent buildings have each a metallic roof, these roofs are connected together by means of a horizontal conductor.