92 DATEXPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



ground slopes very considerably west-southwest. The positions of 

 house, barn, trees, etc., are shown in the accompanying diagram. 



The grove extends no farther eastward than the line of the east 

 side of the house and barn. Some 50 feet farther east is a north and 

 south line of wire fence, and the space between is a grass plat. The 

 tree near the corner of the barn (No. 4) though not the tallest tree of 

 the group, is the highest of them all as it stands on higher ground. 



Upon examination, we found that the tree numbered 1 in the fig- 

 ure, nine inches in diameter and 40 feet high, had a splinter torn off, 

 taking, at the ground, about one-sixth of the trunk of the tree, dimin- 

 ishing upward, and running out about eleven fe6t from the ground, 

 the bark being torn two feet farther up. This splinter included four 

 feet in leno-th of a root runninof southward, and was thrown out and 

 lying about ten feet from the tree, the bark all being off it. The sod 

 was broken only three feet from the body of the tree, though the 

 splinter thrown out was one foot more. On digging, we found the 

 remainder of the root, one foot beneath the sod, shivered to shreds 

 and loose, not only where the splinter was torn out but two feet far- 

 ther. A small limb, six feet from the ground, on the same side 

 of the tree (south), was torn off, and showed the disruptive force in an 

 upward direction from the tree. The mternal wood in each case was 

 shattered into fine slivers. None of the upper or outer limbs showed 

 the slightest injury. In the trunk of the tree, marked 2, we found, on 

 the northeast side, four feet from the ground, a hole which at fii'St 

 glance appeared like a bullet hole, but on inspection it was apparent 

 that the disruptive force was here also exerted outward. The brush- 

 like fibres of the wood, formed by the discharge, pointed wholly out- 

 ward. The hole was half an inch deep in the wood and somewhat 

 less in diameter, and the whole interior was finely torn-up wood fibres. 

 Very little bark was displaced around the opening. Three feet directly 

 above the hole just described, it was discovered that the tree had been 

 split open for the length of a foot or two, and some fibres of wood or 

 inner bark were still protruding directly outwaid through the bark, 

 showing that this crack had gaped for a moment while these were 

 pushed outward and then closed again. Th<' bnrk aho^tt this crack 

 v;as not disfKrhed, which indicates a wholly internal action of the 

 disturbing force. No other portion of the tree appt^ared to have been 

 touched. 



At H, north of the stable, a horse had, as it appears, been standing 

 under the tree. No. 3, for, on going to look for him in the morning. 



