n the @ffect0 of a Jflash of pghtning at 

 f loxtoorth, on tht 9th of JVpril, 1886. 



By the Rev. O. P. CAMBRIDGE, M.A. 





PLATES III., IV., V. VI. 



ITHOUT hiving made electricity and its laws a 

 subject of study, I have yet always taken great 

 interest in observing the effects of discharges of 

 the electric fluid in thunderstorms upon trees and 

 other objects; and I am bringing before our 

 Field Club the results of a flash which lately 

 occurred at Bloxworth in order to record effects quite unique in 

 my own experience, as well as to invite discussion, and I hope an 

 expression of scientific opinion upon what seems to me a flash of 

 a very unusual character. The day on which this flash occurred, 

 the Qth of April last, was of the ordinary " March " character, 

 blustering storms of rain, hail, and snow from the north and north- 

 west, with bright sunshine in the intervals. In one of these 

 short storms at three p.m., without any premonitory flash or growl- 

 ings, a sudden burst or diffused blaze of light occurred, accom- 

 panied instantaneously by an explosion like that of an enormous 

 gun, rather than that of any ordinary peal of thunder, in fact, the 

 pealing was of very short duration. No other flash or peal of any 

 kind followed, and the mixed rain and hail (nearly as large as 

 thrushes' eggs) falling at the time suddenly ceased, the wind 



