An Answer to Dr. Lining's Query Relating to the Death of Professor Richman. By Mr. William Watson, F. R. S

An Answer to Dr. Lining's Query Relating to the Death of Professor Richman. By Mr.William Watson, F. R. S.Author(s): William WatsonSource: Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), Vol. 48 (1753 - 1754), pp. 765-772Published by: The Royal SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/105203 .

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[ 765 ]

LXXXIX. sqn Ewer to Dr. Lining's 4,aery reloz2rg to the Death of Profefor Rich- man. By Mr. William Watfon) F. R. S.

Read July 4s R. LiningXs letter of the 14th of Ja- 1754 nuary I754, being communicated to

the Royal Society by Charles Pinckney, Efq; that learned body referred it to Mr. Watfon, one of their nembers, in order that the beR inforxnation, that could be procured upon this fubjed, {hould be trant- mitted to Dr. Lining, for whofe correfpoMence the Society had for many years had a rery part;-clllar at tention. Mr. Watfon imagined, that it would be agreeable to Dr. Lining, as his abode is fo remoto from Peterfburg, where the accident happened, to have tranEmitted to him not only the antwer to what he more part-Xcularly requeRs, but alSo as ge- neral an account of every thing- relating -to fo un- common an accident, as could be procured.

The defcription of Profeffior Richman's apparatus, hereafter meneioned, was fent by hitnfclf to Pro- feXor HeinElJs of ZipEic. He intituled it an elec- trical gnomon. To the conkrudion of this gnomon were necefI*ary a rod of metal, a glafs jar, a linen thread of a fxt and hatf in length, to one end of which was failened; half a grain of lead, and a qlla-

drant *. The rod of metal C S) was placed 2n

the glaEs veflel E, which contained fili-ngs of metal. Thelinen thread C G was faRened to the rod at C, atld, wllen the apparatus i5 not elErifed, hangs peri

* See the figure arlnexed, which, with the accoullt of the apparatus, is extradced and *annated from a Latin treatife of Pro- *Sor Winkler, tranfinitted to the Royal Society firom Leipf1c.

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t 766 l

pendicular thereto. The radius of the quadrant, which was divided into degrees, was two lines tnore thm a foot and half in length Alld here muR be added an account of the other p$rt of the apparatus, which vgas to communicate the eteftricity to the gnomon during a thunder-Ilorm. ThroughaglaSs bottle, the bottom of which was perforated, paXed an iron -rod, whish was kept in its place, by tneat}s of a cork fitted to theEmouth of this boetle} through which cork likewiSe was iJnfierted the iron rod. A tile was removed from the top of the houSe; a-nd upoa this opening was plas¢d the bottles fupported by the neighboalring tiles) in fsh manner that one end of the iron rod was not only four or five feet above the tOp of the houSe; bllt the other end, which came thrgh the bottom of the bottle, did no-where touch the tiles, or any- other part of the houfe. To this end of the iron rod was faItened an iron chin, which was conduEted into the chambet of PreEcfl;or Rich- man, upon eleEcrics perJ e, fo as no-where to touch the building. The entrance to this chamber faced thesnorth; and at the fouth end of it there was a window, near which llood a table four feet in heigllt Upon this the Profeltor placed his eleEtrical gnomon, and conneded it with the chain, whxch was brought under th-e ctiling of the room over thxs table, and communicated with the apparatus on the top of the houSe by means of a wire B C, which hung from the chains and was joined tllere to X Bs lty the little ring B, and commllnicated with the rod D C at C. YVheti the iron rod at the top of the houSe was affedred by the thunder, or otherwife fuit- able condition of the atmofphere, the ;thread before- vnentiorled deviated from the perpendicular; as it

2 would



[ 767 ] wodd alfo do, if artificklly eledrifed. The Pro- iXor always obfierved a greater aScent of the thread from artificial el¢d?cricity than fronl that from the at- moCphere. By the former, he had feen it upon the quadrant defcribe an angle of aboure fifty five degrees, but er above thirty by the latter. In the year 75a, Aug. 9. th¢ apparus acquired fo great a degree of cledtrKity firom the atmofphere, that fxQm the end of the rod the el¢dtrical flaffies might be heard at Sveral feet diItancew Under thefe cir- cumflances, if arsy o-ne touched the apparatus, they £elt a Iharp Sroke tn their hand and arm,

Profeir BWicleman fometimes added to this appa- ratass a glafis bottle of water, afier the manner of ProfeXor Mufchenbroek g I, adapted to a veffiel of metal I Ky which was placed upon glafs. The wire from the mouth of tbe bottle of water H LX durin-g the time of the thunder, he cauSed to cosnmunicate with B C. From this additson he found the elec- tricsty from the atmofphere more vehemene than it was without it. thi8 he firft obferved on May 3 1, s7S3 when theelitricalfireexplodedwithfucha force, that it might be heard at the diMnce of three ooms from the apparatus. On the left hand of the

bottle suas placed a fecond eleecrical gnomoll *. W}len this was made ufe of, the e^tire of metal B C. andthe^7uireHL, wereconneEtedwith MBE, a prime-cond-udor frosa3 an apparatus for artificial elec_ tricity; wiz. a glafi globe, Sc. At the fanie tinie atfo,* from the chain X B was faRened a piece of vrire B K, wbich gras in contaft with the veffiel I K. By hefe means, whez ehe eleRrical mac'ne tvas r;alt in

* See ie figure. tuoFiona



t 768 ] motion,; both the eledrrical gnomons vvere eledtrifed; but this went off in a great meafure, as foon as the motion of the machine ceafed. By this whole apparatus taken together, ProfeXor Richman obferved a kind of reciprocatton in the effeEts of eleEtricity: for at firks when the eleiNtrical machine was pUt in motion, both the linen threads C G and C G aroSe with the degrees of their refpedrive quadrants. If then the wire B C of the right gnomon was touched, the thread CG collapEed to the rod CDX but the thread oli the left filde continued diverging as be fore the touch. Then, if the wire B C of the left gnomon was touchedX then in its tllrn the thread C G at the rod C D of the- right gnomon collapfed, and the thread of the xight gnomon afnended again. This reciprocation of the aScending and defcending of the tbread, might be repeated three or four times without excitlng the machine anew,

The ingenious and induflnous- ProfeXor Richman loR his life on the fixth of AuguR I753, as he was obEerving, with Mr. Sokolow, engraarer tO the Royal Academy ae Peteriburg, the effefts of eledricity upon his gnonzon, during a thunder llorm. As foon as his dcath was publicly known, it was imagined that the lightning was more particularly direfted into his room by the means of his before mentloned apparatus. Nor, when this affair was more inquired into, did this opinion appear to be ill-fbunded: for Mr. Sokolow faw that a globe of blue fire, as big as his fill, jumped from the rod of the right gnomon C D} towards the forehead of Profcffior Richman, who at that intant was, at abo.ut a fwt's difiance fFom the rod, obServing the eleEtrical index. This

globe



[ 769 ] f obe of fire, Which Aruck Piofefl4or RlcPsma-n, was attended with a report as loud as that tfAa pi0¢l. The nwetal wire B C was broke ;n pieces; and ftS fngtnents throvnn upon Mr. Sokolow's cloatla-s, did firom their heat burn marks of their dimenf1ons thereupon. Half of the glaSs veXel E was 13roken oS, and the filings of nletal tllelein were thrown about the roonw. From hence it ic- plain, that the force of the lighitning trus collfs6ted upon the rigllt rod C D) which touched the filings of metal in the glafs- veAlEt E. Upon examihing the xe£edrs of IIgllt-- ming in the Proftor's c31amiry they fourld t1re dnor-cai fplait half -throu-gh, and thte door torn dg and thrown into t;he chamber. The lightIlitzg there iore feems to have continued its courfe alont, the thatn, conduEted utlder the ctiltng of the room; bt that it came from the apparatus at the top of t}}e houfe to the door, and then into the thattrber, docs not, as fir as can be colleded, appear

If indeed it could b:e afcertalned, thal: the laght_ £ing, which wras the death of ProfeSor Richman: was ¢olleered UpOll the appratus, for this reain) becaufe thefe bodies, at the inRant of tile lightntng, svewrc capable of attraEt:ing and retaining the eled?£ricity it vvould then be in our power fometimes to divert the e£efts of lightning. But of this fadt, more tirne and longer experience muft amtlaint us with the truth.

From hence Mr. Pinckney may acquaint Dr. Lining} that sn Mr. Watfonas opinton, at the time Profeflior Richman was ltilled, his apparatus was per- iedtly infulated, and had no communication with the earth, by the means of metallic or) othe$ fub- fl;ances, readily conduEting eledcricity, and that the

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[ 77° ] great quantity of elitricity, with which, Som the araRnefs of the caufe, the apparatus was replete, dif charged itfelf through the ProfeXor's body, being the neareR non-eledcric fubAance in contadr with the floor, and was unfortunately the caufie of his death. This, it is prefumedX would not have happened, had the chain, or any other part of tbe apparatus, touched the floorw whereby the eledtricity would haye been readily communicated to the earth.

Since the rBading of the above to the Royal So- ciety, a treatiSe in Latin, intituled, Oratio de Mete- oris si eleArica orfis, by Mr. Lomonofow, of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Peterfburg, has been tranEmitted to the Society. By this, among many other curious fadrs, we have been informed of cer- tain partSulars in relation to the death of ProfelEor Richrnan; of which the follosving may not be im- proper tO be inferted here.

Mr. Lomonofow obferve¢, that, with regard to the fudden death of the gentleman before-mentioneds the accounts, conlmunicated to the public, contained fome circumllances not fairly Ilated, and others of lome importance were entirely omitted. With- regard to the firfi, it iS inconteflably true, that the window, in the room where Profefl:or Richman was (a), }ad continued «Ut, that the wlnd might bave no effett upon his eleEtronleter: but that the window in the next room * ref dgJ ssas OpCll) and the door (dJ, which was between thefe two rooms, was half open; fo that the draught of air might

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[ 77I ] uRIy be fufpeded to have followed the direEtion of the iron conduEtor of the Profefl4or's apparatus: that this condudor came from the top of the hou6e at (i), and was continued to (h) and (b). 2dly, That this condudcor was not placed far from that door- cafe, part of which-was torn off. 3dly, Thatat this time no ufe was made of the Leyden bottle, men- tioned in the preceding account; but the iron was inferted into a glaEs Rand, to prevent the dipation of the eled?crical power, and that the gnomon thould Chew its real Rrength.

With regard to the fecond, there has as yet been no Rmention, that ProfeXor Richman, at the time of his- death, had feventy rubles (a falver coin) in his left coat-pocliet, which by this accident were not ill the leaft altered. 2dly, That his clock, which dood at (<), in the corner of the next room, betsreen the open window and the door, was -llopped; and that the athes from the hearth (g) were thrown about the room 3dly, That many perfons without- doors declared their having aEually feen the ligllt- ning {hoot from the cloud to the ProfeXor's apparatus at tlle top of his houSe. A view- is likewiSe added * of the chamber, where the ProfeSor was. ltruck by tlle lightning; who Ilood at (h), with his. headprojeflcingtowards(g)hiseledrometer; at (S) Itood Mr. Sokolow- the engraver; from the door fc J a piece was torn off; and carried to (d) : (a bJ part of the door cafe rent :

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r 772 ] In this treatife Mr. IJonronoGow, among other

pll:nonzena of eleEricity, talies notice, that he once iiwX in a Itorm of thundBr and lightning, bru&es of eledrical fire with a hifl*lng noiSe, commul)icate between the iron rod of his apparatus and the fide of his xvirldow; and that thefe were three feet in length, and a foot in breadth. EffeEts like thefe no one but himfelf has had tlle opportunity of ob

.

tervlng.

_ . . . . .. .S .

XC. ExtrozS of a Letter from John Henry Winlrler, Profefar of Aatural PhiSo8eophy v! Lepfic, and Fellow of the Royal So- cieZy) to Thomas-Birch, D. Di Secretary of the Royal Society, relating to 7@ffo elec- trical Encterincents; ranJlated from the Latin.

Ltiprlc, May 12, I754.

ReadJuly4 T Tranfmit to you, Sir, the accoalat 17544 1 of two ele&rical experiments, both

which I made ehe prefent year. They are founded upon the famous experimetlt of Leyden.

On January 8, I fprinkled a plate of metal with the feeds of * club-moEs. To this plate I conneEted a chain, which communlcatecl with the coating of the Leyden bottle of water. I afterwards fuficiently ¢!eEtrtlcd this water to make the artificial thunder,

* Lycopodium, Club-moEs, Wolfsrclaw, - S of

r 772 ] In this treatife Mr. IJonronoGow, among other

pll:nonzena of eleEricity, talies notice, that he once iiwX in a Itorm of thundBr and lightning, bru&es of eledrical fire with a hifl*lng noiSe, commul)icate between the iron rod of his apparatus and the fide of his xvirldow; and that thefe were three feet in length, and a foot in breadth. EffeEts like thefe no one but himfelf has had tlle opportunity of ob

.

tervlng.

_ . . . . .. .S .

XC. ExtrozS of a Letter from John Henry Winlrler, Profefar of Aatural PhiSo8eophy v! Lepfic, and Fellow of the Royal So- cieZy) to Thomas-Birch, D. Di Secretary of the Royal Society, relating to 7@ffo elec- trical Encterincents; ranJlated from the Latin.

Ltiprlc, May 12, I754.

ReadJuly4 T Tranfmit to you, Sir, the accoalat 17544 1 of two ele&rical experiments, both

which I made ehe prefent year. They are founded upon the famous experimetlt of Leyden.

On January 8, I fprinkled a plate of metal with the feeds of * club-moEs. To this plate I conneEted a chain, which communlcatecl with the coating of the Leyden bottle of water. I afterwards fuficiently ¢!eEtrtlcd this water to make the artificial thunder,

* Lycopodium, Club-moEs, Wolfsrclaw, - S of



Documents

An Answer to Dr. Lining's Query Relating to the Death of Professor Richman. By Mr. William Watson, F. R. S