THE EFFECTS OF A FLASH OF LIGHTNING. 75 



dropped, the sun shone out, and all was fine and quiet. I was 

 myself about 400 yards distant from the spot, and looking in that 

 direction, but the high trees intervening in the near fore-ground 

 preventing my seeing more than the burst of bright light. To me, 

 at this distance, the flash and report were instantaneous. A 

 labourer was at work about the same distance from the spot 

 though in another direction. As soon as he recovered his 

 equanimity (as far as I could gather from him, within four or five 

 minutes), he ran into an adjoining field, where at about 200 yards 

 off he had a full view of the spot, which, it seemed to him, was 

 where the flash appeared, and his description of it was that the 

 whole group of trees, which, on after-examination, proved to be 

 the striking point of the flash, appeared to be wrapped in a blaze 

 of light like fire, with a kind of mist or thin steaming smoke rising 

 from it. On examining the spot soon after I found that eight 

 trees (seven of them in almost a straight line of about 82 yards 

 long, stretching from east to west, and the other at right angles to 

 the west end of the line and at 30 yards from it) had been struck 

 in various ways and degrees. The ground plan PI. IV. (laid 

 down to scale) shews the relative position, and, pretty accurately, 

 the relative sizes of the trees struck, as well as of several others 

 close to them but not struck. The sketches exhibited give a per- 

 spective view of the whole position, as well as enlarged outlines 

 of the trunks of some of the trees, on which the direction and 

 extent of the course of the electric current is marked with red. 

 As the manner and extent of the damage done to the eight trees 

 is very varied and peculiar, I will describe shortly the condition 

 in which I found each of them, beginning with that numbered 

 one on the ground plan. No. i (PI. V., Fig. i). A rather large 

 ash tree 2ft. 6in. in diameter, and about yoft. high, struck on the 

 top of a large dead limb, five or six inches in diameter, and form- 

 ing part of the main body of the tree, the trunk of which divides 

 into two, about 1 8ft. from the ground; the height at which it 

 was struck (Fig. i, S.f.) is about 35ft. from the ground, a portion 

 being broken off and thrown a considerable distance over a 



