40 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



" On the 14th of February, 1809, the ship of the line, ' Warren 

 Hastings/ which had only been launched a few days before at 

 Portsmouth, (Eng.) was struck three times in a very short space 

 of time. On each occasion the lightning approached the mast 

 under the form of a ball of fire." 



"A short time after Philip V. had made his entry into Madrid, 

 the palace was struck by lightning. The persons assembled at 

 the moment in the royal chapel saw two balls of fire enter it. 

 One of these balls divided into several smaller ones, which before 

 disappearing, bounded repeatedly like an elastic ball." 



" On the 20th of June, 1172, while a thunder storm rolled over 

 the parish of Steeple Ashton in Wiltshire, a globe of fire was seen 

 to hover in the air above the village for a considerable time, and 

 afterwards to fall perpendicularly upon the houses, where it did 

 much damage." 



At the same place, and on " the same day, the reverend Messrs. 

 Wainhouse and Pitcairn, who were in a room in the parsonage, 

 suddenly saw appear at the height of their faces and at about a 

 foot from them, a globe of fire of the size of a fist. It was sur- 

 rounded by black smoke. In exploding it made a noise which 

 might be compared to the discharge of several pieces of ordnance 

 at once. Immediately afterwards a strongly sulphurous vapor 

 spread throughout the house. Mr. Pitcairn was dangerously 

 wounded ; his body, clothes, shoes and watch, presented all the 

 same appearances as those attendant on a stroke of lightning of 

 the more usual kind. Different colored lights filled the apartment, 

 and were violently agitated to and fro." 



Professor Richmann of St. Petersburg, in 1752, was instantly 

 killed while performing the experiment of withdrawing lightning 

 from clouds. The engraver Solokoff who was present, declared 

 that the lightning which killed the physicist had a globular form. 



"In 1809, lightning entered the house of Mr. David Sutton at 

 Newcastle-on-Tyue, through the chimney. After the explosion, 

 several persons saw on the floor, at the door of the drawing-room 

 in which they were assembled, a globe of fire which remained 

 stationary ; it afterwards advanced into the midst of the room 

 and broke into several fragments, which exploded in their turn 

 like the stars of a rocket." 



M. Babiuet communicated to the Academy of Sciences (France) 

 on the 5th of July, 1852, the following note : 



" The object of the present notice is to bring before the 



