1812 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III, 
other trees, which Professor Burnet thinks may be owing to the imperfectly 
conducting power of the dense mass which composes the head of this tree ; 
for, though pines and firs grow higher, yet they are of lighter forms, and their 
inferior conductibility, from the resinous nature of their wood, may in some 
measure protect them. Some very remarkable instances of oaks being struck 
by lightning are recorded in the Philosophical Transactions by Sir John Clark, 
who thus writes : —“ Being lately in Cumberland, I there observed two curi- 
osities in Winfield Park, belonging to the Earl of Thanet. The first was a 
huge oak, at least 60 ft. high, and 4 ft. in diameter, on which the last great 
thunder had made a very odd impression ; for a piece was cut out of the tree, 
about 3in. broad and 2 in. thick, in a straight line from top to bottom; and 
the second was, that, in another tree of the same height, the thunder had cut 
out a piece of the same breadth and thickness from top to bottom, in a spiral 
line ; making three turns about the tree, and entering into the ground about 
6 ft. deep.” Professor Burnet saw, in July, 1828, the ruins of a very fine 
oak at Pinner, Middlesex, which had the whole of its arms severed from 
the trunk at their junction with it, and scattered on the ground. The 
trunk, which was about 10 ft. in girt, was completely stripped of its bark, 
and shivered from the summit to the root. Perpendicular clefts passed 
into the heart wood, and rent through the trunk in many places, so that 
splinters of 6 ft., 8 ft., or 10 ft. long, and 3in. or 4 in. thick, might be pulled 
out ; “one of which,” adds the Professor, “I have.” (Amen. Quer., fol. 9.) 
The same year, and in the same month, we observed, close by St. Albans, 
an oak tree by the road side, which had been struck by lightning the night 
before, and from the trunk of which a narrow strip of bark had been torn 
from the summit to the root; the trunk being not otherwise injured, though 
several branches were broken off. An oak in the New Forest “ had nearly 
one quarter of the tree forced away from the body, and several of the massive 
limbs of the upper part driven from their sockets a distance of several feet.” 
(Brand’s Journal.) “It is not improbable,” says Professor Burnet, “ that 
the liability of the oak to be struck by lightning may have led to the dedica- 
tion of that tree to the god of thunder.” 
Fig. 1643. represents an oak, growing in the parish of Weston, in Nor- 
folk, which was struck by lightning on the 26th of September, 1828. The 
drawing was taken immediately after the accident, and represents correctly 
the damage sustained, as it appeared at that time: but since then the 
standing bough has fallen, and the tree is otherwise fast going to decay. 
Not the slightest portion of bark was left upon the trunk, although not a 
single bough was stripped, nor were the leaves torn off. The fissures 
reached from the top to the ground, but not in connexion; gradually 
decreasing downwards, except the lowest, which decreased upwards. Pieces 
of bark were thrown to the distance of 90 yards. This was one of six trees 
standing in a line, and not the tallest. In the summer of 1822, a fine oak 
was struck by lightning, which was growing on Scottow Common, in the same 
county; but which, so far from being killed, continued to grow and flourish 
till 1828, when it was felled, and proved to bea sound and good tree in most 
parts. This tree was large and wide-spreading, affording shade in summer, 
and shelter in the winter, to the stock turned out to pasture on the,common ; 
and, before it was injured by the lightning, often attracted attention from the 
number of animals which were collected under it, and which it covered. From 
the time of its being struck, however, not a head of cattle was ever seen near 
it; the animals not only refusing to avail themselves of its shade, but obviously 
avoiding the tree, as if it were disagreeable to them. The above facts were 
first communicated to the Magazine of Natural History (vol. ii.), by the Rev. 
T, W. Salmon of Weston Rectory, and have been since sent to us, for this 
work, by Mr. Girling of Hovingham, Norfolk. 
The roots of the oak not being so liable to rot in the ground as those of the 
elm, the beech, and other trees, full-grown oaks are, consequently, not so liable 
to be blown down by high winds as the elm. The height of the oak being less 
