"Young students of astronomy who wish to obtain a general idea of the most wonderful and fascinating of all sciences will find precisely what they seek in M. Flammarion's eloquent and poetic chapters.... There are many illustrations in this able and attractive treatise."--SPEAKER. "It is a fascinating work, extending to nearly seven hundred pages, and dealing in popular language with some of the most interesting of the discoveries and speculations of astronomers."--DAILY NEWS. "M. Flammarion is a sound practical astronomer; he has rendered good and laborious service to the science, and he possesses a valuable faculty of popular exposition.... The volume is profusely and well illustrated, some of the best plates making here their first appearance."--SATURDAY REVIEW. "A high place must be accorded to Flammarion's 'Popular Astronomy.' Never before has the science of the heavens been treated with such fulness and interest as in this fascinating book; for Flammarion is a man of letters as well as a man of science--a man of letters, too, endowed with the wondrous gifts of lucidity and charm which distinguish the best French writers.... Flammarion's book is much more absorbing than most novels, more romantic than most romances, more poetic than most poems, yet strictly and scientifically accurate."--LUDGATE MONTHLY. "It must be confessed that M. Flammarion not only arrests the attention, but assists the reader to grasp astronomical theories--a task in which less popular writers often fail when they make the attempt."--LITERARY WORLD. "The book is a most fascinating one, and holds the reader from start to finish.... As a manual for those who wish to obtain a good general knowledge of astronomy this work will be found unsurpassed."--SCIENCE GOSSIP. LONDON: CHATTO & WINDUS, 111 ST. MARTIN'S LANE, W.C. * * * * * THUNDER AND LIGHTNING by CAMILLE FLAMMARION Translated by Walter Mostyn [Illustration] WITH ILLUSTRATIONS London Chatto & Windus 1905 Printed by William Clowes and Sons, Limited, London and Beccles. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THE VICTIMS OF LIGHTNING 1 II. ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRICITY AND STORM-CLOUDS 17 III. THE FLASH AND THE SOUND 31 IV. FIREBALLS 57 V. THE EFFECTS OF LIGHTNING ON MANKIND 89 VI. THE EFFECTS OF LIGHTNING ON ANIMALS 128 VII. THE EFFECTS OF LIGHTNING ON TREES AND PLANTS 155 VIII. THE EFFECTS OF LIGHTNING ON METALS, OBJECTS, HOUSES, ETC. 188 IX. LIGHTNING CONDUCTORS 240