No, they are safe, because the iron frame, completely surrounding the body, and having _a great capacity for conduction_, would keep the electricity away from the body. 605. _Why is it safe to be in bed during an electric storm?_ Because _feathers_, _hair_, _wool_, _cotton_, &c., especially when dry, are good _insulators_ or _non-conductors_. 606. _What is the safest situation to be in during an electric storm?_ In the centre of a room, _isolated_ as far as possible from surrounding objects; sitting on a chair, and avoiding handling any of the conducting substances. The windows and doors should be closed, to prevent _drafts of air_. 607. _In the open air, what is the safest situation?_ To keep aloof, as far as possible, from elevated structures; and regard the rain, though it might saturate our clothes, as a protection against the lightning stroke, for _wet clothes_ would supply so _good a conductor_, that a large amount of electricity would pass over man's body, through wet garments, and he would be quite unconscious of it. [Verse: "God thundereth marvellously with his voice: great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend."--JOB XXXVI.] During a violent electric storm in the Shetland Islands, a fishing boat was attacked by the electric fluid, which tore the mast to shivers. A fisherman was sitting by the side of the mast at the time, but he felt no shock. Upon taking out his watch, however, he found that the electric current had actually fused his watch into a mass. In this case, it is more than probable that the man was saved through the saturation of his clothes with rain. 608. _Do lightning conductors "attract" electricity?_ Not unless the electric current lies in their vicinity. 609. _Why have lightning conductors sometimes been found ineffective?_ Because they have been unskilfully constructed; have been too small in their dimensions, and have not been properly laid to convey the electricity harmlessly away. 610. _What is the best metal for a lightning conductor?_ _Copper_, the conducting power of which is _five times greater than that of iron_. 611. _Why should a large building have several conductors?_ Because the influence of a conductor over the electricity of the surrounding air does not extend to more than a radius of double the height of the conductor above the building: for instance, a conductor rising _ten feet high_ above the building would influence the electricity _twenty feet all round the conductor_. 612. _Why should conductors have at their base several branches penetrating the earth?_ To facilitate the discharge of the _accumulated electricity_ into the earth. 613. _Why does electricity affect the shapes of clouds?_