On June 1, 1809, in a boarding-school for young ladies, at Bordeaux, a
gold chain, worn by one of the young ladies, was melted by the
lightning, which left a black indented line in its place, which,
however, soon passed off. The lady was struck, but recovered
consciousness within a few hours, being none the worse. Her slender
chain, worn in three rows round her neck, had been cut into five
pieces. Some of the fragments showed signs of fusion, and had been
carried to a distance.
Other examples, in which the consequences were more dramatic, will
show ladies the dangers of a love of adornment.
On September 21, 1901, during a violent thunderstorm which burst over
the region of Narbonne, a fireball fell in the domain of Castelou. A
young girl of fourteen was fatally struck by the meteor. The gold
chain which she wore round her throat was completely evaporated. There
was not a trace of it to be found.
It is not unusual to see gold chains broken, melted, partially or
completely, in the pocket which had held them.
Thus, lightning melted a watch and chain into a single lump in the
pocket of a man killed on board a passenger boat.
Bracelets, hairpins, and even precious stones are sometimes very
strangely altered.
As for watches, without speaking of the magnetization observed after a
violent electrical discharge, it has been remarked that the movement
became slower. In some cases they stopped short, and marked the exact
instant when the lightning stopped them.
When the ship _Eagle_ was struck by lightning, none of the passengers
were injured, but all their watches stopped at the moment the shock
took place.
At other times there are peculiarities in the works which are
absolutely inexplicable. The following observation, related by Biot,
is a curious case in point.
A young man was slightly struck by lightning in the street of
Grenelle-Saint-Germain. His watch was in no wise hurt outside, but,
although it was only a quarter-past eleven, the hands pointed to a
quarter to five.
Convinced that it was in need of repair, the young man placed it on
his table, intending to take it to the watchmaker; but next day,
thinking he would wind it up to make sure of the extent of the damage,
he saw, to his amazement, the hands moved and kept regular time.
In some instances the case of the watch is seriously injured, while
the works are none the worse.
A man wore a watch with a double cap attached to a gold chain. The
chain was broken, some of the links soldered together. The cap had
been perforated, and the gold spilt in his pocket. The watch itself
had not been altered.
But if lightning sometimes stops the works of watches, it also
produces the contrary effect.
Beyer relates that a flash of lightning, having entered a room and
broken the corner of a glass, set a watch going which had been stopped
for a long time.