Believe in Science Will Die (July
28,1919)
Two weeks ago, several people were killed by lightning during a big thunderstorm
in Changsha. Several people were also struck by lightning inside a house under an old
tree on Mount Yuelu. In the city, where the streets and ditches are filled with garbage
and the electrical potential is especially high, tall towers with lightning rods should
be erected in many places. Old trees have a high electrical potential, so houses should
not be built beneath them. This is scientific common knowledge that everyone should
know. But among the Changsha police, and among the more than 300,000 inhabitants
of Changsha, not one has the time to take notice of it. There are even some who say
that “the heavens punish with five hundred bolts of lightning.” People have died but
the cause of their death is still unknown. How pitiful!