342 LIGHTNING, RAIN, HAIL, 



tion of water, splashing it in all directions into 

 spray, which for a moment seemed to be enve- 

 loped in flames. 



" Many such storms occurred about the same 

 time in different parts of England, Scotland, and 

 Ireland. On the 10th of June, about 3 o'clock, 

 there was a storm of lightning, thunder, and 

 hail, at Dumfries, and at Ardach on the fol- 

 lowing day, there was a violent thunder storm, 

 where the hail was two feet in depth in some 

 places, and remained on the ground for twenty- 

 four hours. 



" At Sheffield, during a thunder storm, the 

 electric fluid entered the works of Mr. Ellin, and 

 struck a pile of ivory handled knives, the blades 

 of which were fused into one mass, and splitting 

 off the hafts in a singular manner. Twelve 

 individuals were thrown down, who imagined 

 that the boiler of a steam engine in the room had 

 bursted.* 



" On the 6th of June, forty-two head of cattle 



* It is related in some of the older books on Natural Philo- 

 sophy, that Erfurt, a small city of Germany, was struck by 

 lightning during a storm, in forty-two different places. Seven 

 persons were killed, and three houses set on fire, which were 

 quenched by the rain, that fell in torrents. 



On the 15th of August, 1836, twenty-eight houses were set on 

 fire by lightning in the town of Grundelbruch : while at Villexon, 

 nineteen dwellings were consumed about the same time, during^ 

 thunder storm, attended with hail and a tornado. (Galignani's 

 Messenger.) 



