The copper even of such a conductor has been melted by the powerful current which it has carried away. In telephonic central offices, M. Bede has seen all the signals of one row of telephone wires fall at the same moment, proving that an electric discharge had fallen upon the wires, and been by them conveyed to earth.
This fact shows that wires, even without points, are capable of attracting the atmospheric electricity; but it must be remembered that there are two points at every join in the wire. M. Bede insists strongly upon the uselessness of terminating lightning conductors in wells, or even larger pieces of water. The experiments of MM. Becquerel and Pouillet proved that the resistance of water to the passage of electricity is one thousand million times greater than that of iron; consequently, if the current conveyed by a wire one square mm. thick were to be carried off by water without increased resistance, a surface of contact between the wire and the water of not less than 1,000 square meters must be established.

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