238 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



C — I never before saw rain anything like it : the large 

 hail preceding it ; then the shower itself, coming down in 

 dense sheets, and the drops so large and heavy ! why, the 

 roads, with all their thick beds of dust, in five minutes were 

 mere water-courses. And how vivid the lightning ! coming 

 from no particular point, but appearing to fill the sky with 

 one blaze, followed in quick succession by deafening roars of 

 thunder, dying away and taken up again in repeated echoes ! 

 It was quite appalling. 



F. — A great evil needs a strong remedy : a gentle rain 

 would not cool the air sufficiently to be attended with any 

 lasting benefit ; nor would it have wet the earth to such a 

 depth. But the change in the air is chiefly caused by the 

 sudden restoration of the equilibrium of the electric fluid, 

 which had been destroyed by the great heats. After the 

 storm had ceased, a more beautiful scene, though not so ter- 

 rifically sublime, was presented by the lightning, which con- 

 tinued to play in the clouds around the horizon, after the 

 thunder had ceased to be heard, and the sky over head had 

 recovered its azure serenity. Long after sun-set, the horizon 

 was ever and anon lighted up with brilliant flashes, some- 

 times cleaving their zigzag path apparently through a dense 

 cloud, then shining behind, and round the edge of a black 

 mass of cloud, which was shown in full distinctness and 

 dark outline. 



C. — I have often seen in summer evenings, gleams of 

 lightning around the horizon, unaccompanied by thunder : 

 it is called by some people, '^ summer lightning;" does it 

 differ in its nature from that which is followed by thunder ? 



jP, — I believe not : the cause of the thunder's not being 

 heard is, as I suppose, nothing more than its distance : light 

 being visible at an incomparably greater distance than sound 

 is audible. We sometimes see summer lightning at evening, 

 even when the horizon-sky seems perfectly clear and cloud- 



