Foregoing Narrative. 265 
each wheel of the cart, was a circular hole in 
the ground, about 20 inches diameter.. The 
earth and small stones seemed as if they had 
been torn up by the violent strokes of a pick- 
axe, and were thrown on each side of the 
road. On pushing back the cart, in the same 
track it had described, to the spot where the 
acgident had happened, the marks of fusion 
‘on the wheels were found to correspond with 
the centres of the holes in the ground. Yet 
another cart, which was following at the dis- 
tance of about 24 yards lower down the hill, 
was not injured ; the driver, though he had 
his companion full in view and was stunned 
by the report, perceived no flash; nor was he 
aware of any unusual sensation. 
From the above and other circumstances, it 
appears probable that the electric fluid, 
which occasioned the disaster, did not proceed 
directly from an impending cloud, but was 
discharged from the earth. The manner in 
which this might happen, has been explained 
by an ingenious theory of EaRL STANHOPE,* 
of which the following is a sammary outline. 
Let ABC (plate 3, fig. 1) represent a cloud 
of several miles in length, one end only of 
which approaches the earth within striking 
distance at G. Let another cloud DEF be 
* Philos. Trans. vol, 77. 
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