Facilitative

"As regards the influence of the metals, it can be deduced from the table that iron is 240 times more collective of charge and facilitative to explosion than the most collective non-metallic substance, — 533,000 times more so than sea water, — 7,500,000 times more so than spring water, rain, snow, hail, ice, human beings, animals, vegetation, wood, clouds, fog, earth, sand, shingle, rock, stone, brick, earthenware, straw, cotton, linen, paper, hemp, wool, silk, leather, and bone, — and 340,000,000,000,000,000,000 times more so than air, asphalte, and glass ; and we gain from these figures some idea of the enormous power possessed by metals relatively to non-metallic substances for influencing lightning discharges."