1812 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



other trees, which Professor Burnet thinks may be owing to the imperfectly 

 conducting power of the dense mass which composes the head of this tree ; 

 for, though pines and firs grow higher, yet they are of lighter forms, and their 

 inferior conductibility, from the resinous nature of their wood, may in some 

 measure protect them. Some very remarkable instances of oaks being struck 

 by lightning are recorded in the Philosophical Transactions by Sir John Clark, 

 who thus writes: " Being lately in Cumberland, I there observed two curi- 

 osities in Winfield Park, belonging to the Earl of Thanet. The first was a 

 huge oak, at least 60 ft. high, and 4 ft. in diameter, on which the last great 

 thunder had made a very odd impression ; for a piece was cut out of the tree, 

 about 3 in. broad and 2 in. thick, in a straight line from top to bottom ; and 

 the second was, that, in another tree of the same height, the thunder had cut 

 out a piece of the same breadth and thickness from top to bottom, in a spiral 

 line ; making three turns about the tree, and entering into the ground about 

 6 ft. deep." Professor Burnet saw, in July, 1828, the ruins of a very fine 

 oak at Pinner, Middlesex, which had the whole of its arms severed from 

 the trunk at their junction with it, and scattered on the ground. The 

 trunk, which was about 10 ft. in girt, was completely stripped of its bark, 

 and shivered from the summit to the root. Perpendicular clefts passed 

 into the heart wood, and rent through the trunk in many places, so that 

 splinters of 6 ft., 8 ft., or 10 ft. long, and Sin. or 4 in. thick, might be pulled 

 out; "one of which," adds the Professor, " I have." (Amain. Quer., fol. 9.) 

 The same year, and in the same month, we observed, close by St. Albans, 

 an oak tree by the road side, which had been struck by lightning the night 

 before, and from the trunk of which a narrow strip of bark had been torn 

 from the summit to the root ; the trunk being not otherwise injured, though 

 several branches were broken off. An oak in the New Forest " had nearly 

 one quarter of the tree forced away from the body, and several of the massive 

 limbs of the upper part driven from their sockets a distance of several feet.'* 

 (Brand's Journal.) " It is not improbable," says Professor Burnet, " that 

 the liability of the oak to be struck by lightning may have led to the dedica- 

 tion of that tree to the god of thunder." 



Fig. 1643. represents an oak, growing in the parish ofWeston, in Nor- 

 folk, which was struck by lightning on the 26th of September, 1828. The 

 drawing was taken immediately after the accident, and represents correctly 

 the damage sustained, as it appeared at that time : but since then the 

 standing bough has fallen, and the tree is otherwise fast going to decay. 

 Not the slightest portion of bark was left upon the trunk, although not a 

 single bough was stripped, nor were the leaves torn off. The fissures 

 reached from the top to the ground, but not in connexion; gradually 

 decreasing downwards, except the lowest, which decreased upwards. Pieces 

 of bark were thrown to the distance of 90 yards. This was one of six trees 

 standing in a line, and not the tallest. In the summer of 1822, a fine oak 

 was struck by lightning, which was growing on Scottow Common, in the same 

 county ; but which, so far from being killed, continued to grow and flourish 

 till 1828, when it was felled, and proved to be a sound and good tree in most 

 parts. This tree was large and wide-spreading, affording shade in summer, 

 and shelter in the winter, to the stock turned out to pasture on the common ; 

 and, before it was injured by the lightning, often attracted attention from the 

 number of animals which were collected under it, and which it covered. From 

 the time of its being struck, 'however, not a head of cattle was ever seen near 

 it ; the animals not only refusing to avail themselves of its shade, but obviously 

 avoiding the tree, as if it were disagreeable to them. The above facts were 

 first communicated to the Magazine of Natural History (vol. ii.), by the Rev. 

 T. W. Salmon of Weston Rectory, and have been since sent to us, for this 

 work, by Mr. Girling of Hovingham, Norfolk. 



The roots of the oak not being so liable to rot in the ground as those of the 

 elm, the beech, and other trees, full-grown oaks are, consequently, not so liable 

 to be blown down by high winds as the elm. The height of the oak being less 



