599 



KDooiledge & SeieDtifie flems 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



Conducted by MAJOR B. BADEN-POWELL, F.R.A.S., and E. S. GREW, M.A. 



Vol. .III. No. 25. 



[NEW SERIES.] DECEMBER, 1905. [staUrrs' Hall.] 



SIXPENCE NET. 



CONTENTSSee page V. 



Lightning Flashes from 

 Earth to Cloud. 



By William J. -S. I.ockvkr, M.A., I'h.D., F.R..\..S. 



" .\h, Thiiin.Ts, 

 " Thai lii;Iilnini^^ lli.it wr Ihiiik .ire only Heaven's, 

 " l''lash soniclinic's out cil I'^arlli .iiijainst the skv." 



Tennyson, JiecM. 



As long' ag"0' as the year 1856 James Nasmyth remarked 

 (British Association Report, 1856, p. 14) that in many 

 cases of Hf>-htninij flashes which he minutely observed 

 the course of the flash was from the earth upwards to- 

 wards the heavens. 



Asjain Dr. T. L. Phipson (Famihar Letters, &c., 

 187(1, p. 195) mentions that Admiral FitzRoy describes 

 a thunderstorm off the coast of La I'lata when the 

 vvliok; heavens appeared like a metal foundry so numer- 

 ous were the flashes. Neither his own ship nor another 

 about a mile distant were struck, but the sea between 

 them was several times, and in one instance the 

 lii^htning; appeared to rise from the surface of the water. 

 Dr. Phipson, in another place, also wrote that " a few 

 cases are on record of Ihest' upward strokes of lightnintj- 

 in various authors." 



.'\nother case of the observation of an earth-to-cloud 

 flash is that which was communicated to me by my 

 friend, Mr. .Sevniour IT. l?eaK', of Hanhurv, in relation 

 lo a lluinilerstorm which occurred in thai town on 

 July (), 1905, 



".At 11.30 a.m. it was verv hot and close with no 

 breath of wind stirring. About noon distant thunder 

 was heard, which continued until 12.20 p.m., when the 

 clouds took a fearful shape, but were not very dense. 

 Then came an enormous jiprvard flash from the sjroiind 

 to the cloud (I h;ive several times seen these upward 

 flashes in this neisjhbourhood, but nowhere else), ac- 

 companied directly after by a minute downward flash 

 quite 10 decrees to the e.'ist of it. The flash was about 

 three miles off. . . . Then downward flashes came 

 rapidly and vividly. 



From the abovi- it will be seen ih.it Mr. Be.ale, who is 

 a very careful observer, was distincllv able in his own 



mind to differentiate between upward and downward 

 flashes, and it is interesting^ further to note his remark 

 that upward flashes seemed to be special to the neigh- 

 bourhood of Bimbury. 



The above observations, and others might be cited, 



P;u)(,i ;.;, J. Tf. /.•ri<i;;,-,<. 



FJK I. -Cloud-to-earth dLscharge ^howlnjr the ramifications directed 

 earthwards. August, 1906, Chadwell Heath. 



indicate that flashes from earth to cloud have been de- 

 flnitely recorded. 



Turning now to a lecture on " Thunderstorms " de- 

 livered by Prof. Tait in the Cil.isgow City Hall on 

 January 29, iSSo, we find that he regarded the origin 



