The First Lightning Rod

If we re to believc n Austrian pper, gaya La Lumeire Electrique, the first ligbtnlag conductor was not eonstriictecJ by Franklln, bat by a. monk of Seuftenberg, ia Bohemia, uamed Prohop Diwiaeh, who lnstalled an appar&tus the 15th oí June, 1754, In the garúen of the cúrate of Prendltz (.Morarla). The kpparatua was romposed of a viole surmountcd by au iron rod supportlng twclve curved up branche?, and termltialln in hs many metallic boxes, fllied wlth ron oie and closcd by a boxwood cover, tratcraed by twentj-seTeu aharp Iron pointe, whlcb plunged at ihelr base in the ore. All thfl yslnn was unltcd to the earth by a lares clialn. The eneinles of Dlwlsch, Jealpus ot bis success at the couvt of V'icnna, ezclted tbs peasanis of the locality agalntl hitn, and under the pretext that hls Hchtnlng toa was the ca ure of the gre&t drought, tbey made blm talie down the erectlou whlcli kit had utilizcd for alx years.