C felt hardly anything apart from a certain heaviness in his limbs when picking himself up.
D had some slight burns, which were healed within two or three days.
E was holding his rifle with the barrel vertically. He found himself about 2-1/2 metres from his position on the ground, with a stone in his hands; his rifle had been bent in two below the trigger.
A's scorer held the pear-shaped handle of the electric bell between his fingers, his elbows upon the table. Saw nothing, heard nothing. Felt himself suddenly bent up double, his face buried in the gravel; lost consciousness while he was being carried away; when he came to himself again he began to ramble in his speech; his pencil was broken lengthwise into four pieces. The wire of his bell had been electrified. By way of wound, he had a picture of a pine branch on his back; water issued from it as from a blister; there were no traces of blood. The picture disappeared at the end of two days. For a certain time the young man had a pain in his loins; he still limps somewhat; probably what he now suffers from is sciatic lumbago, the result of partial and temporary paralysis.
B's scorer had only some insignificant burns.
C's scorer only came to himself twenty minutes later as the result of artificial respiration. At the moment of the lightning he was pressing the electric button with his thumb in order to give the signal, "Change the target;" he had a small hole in his thumb. This burn bled later, and the wound took four weeks to heal. He had also some burns on his legs.
D's scorer was holding the handle of the bell against his left cheek, on a level with his eye. The handle, made of wood, burst. The sight of his left eye is still affected, being very weak--the retina was probably torn away. The day after the accident, the young man's face became all inflamed, especially the part round the eyes. These were quite hidden. This inflammation, of a bluish tint, is due to the dilation of the small veins or of the capillaries.
Dr. Yersin, who attended several of the victims, attributes this dilation to a paralysis of the vasomotor nerves, "_which would also explain the tree-like form of the pictures seen upon the skin_," and the transudation (?) of water across the small blood-vessels.