82 Mr Williams's account of Two Thunder Storms 



The instantaneous sound of the thunder following the flash 

 of lightning, and the after long-continued roll in the distant 

 parts of the cloud, made me conclude the latter was negatively 

 electrified, and that the electricity passed from the surface of 

 the earth to the cloud. And hearing the following morning 

 that the west side of the lofty beautiful spire of St Andrew's 

 Church in Worcester had been struck by the lightning, I re- 

 quested a friend to accompany me to the church-yard to examine 

 the mark where the surface of the stone was injured. The mark 

 was and still is distinctly visible about halfway between the top of 

 the tower and the weathercock, which terminates the spire ; the 

 smooth surface of the stone being torn off about an inch in depth, 

 i9fo or three inches in width, and about two feet in length, pre- 

 senting the following appearance and inclination from a perpendi- 

 cular. See Plate I. Fig. 3. Before entering the church-yard, 

 I remarked to my companion that I expected to find all the frag- 

 ments of stone on the ground on the west side the church, fac- 

 ing the direction of the storm, as I imagined the electrical dis- 

 charge passed up the surface of the wet stone, till it came to the 

 point where we observed the mark, and from thence through 

 the air in a diagonal direction to the cloud. The fact turn- 

 ed out as I predicted ; the fragments of stone were all found 

 scattered on the ground, about thirty feet from the west side 

 of the tower. None could be met with in any other part of 

 the church-yard; and that these fragments (which are still 

 in my possession) were the identical pieces of stone torn by 

 the electrical discharge from the surface of the spire, I could 

 have no doubt, for the stone exactly corresponded in texture 

 with it ; the smooth wrought side being of the colour of the 

 general surface of the spire, and the rough fractured portion 

 of each piece presented the appearance of the same stone when 

 recently broken. A gentleman who witnessed the storm from 

 the quay on the opposite side of the Severn, about six hun- 

 dred yards from the west side of the church, saw the flash, 

 which he described as resembling an intensely bright light, 

 which seemed to come from the spire, and pass over his head 

 towards the dark cloud in the west, attended by a sudden 

 and most tremendous crack, and accompanied by a loud rustling 

 sound, like a high wind passing through the rigging of the 



