9'2 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1776. 



Mr. Tooth gave an account of a pyed horse of his being killed, 4 or 5 years 

 before, in a stable adjoining to his house, by a stroke of lightning which hap- 

 pened in the night; and being very great, Mr. Tooth thinking it struck his 

 house, immediately got up and went to the stable, when he saw his horse was 

 struck, and almost dead to appearance, though it kept on its legs near half an 

 hour before it expired. The horse was pyed white on the shoulder and most part 

 of the head; that is, all the forehead and nose, where the greatest force of the 

 stroke came. The hair was not burnt nor discoloured, only so loosened at the 

 root, that it came off at the least touch. And this is the case, Mr. Tooth ob- 



. serves, with all he has seen or heard of, viz. the hair is never burnt, but the 

 skin always affected. In the above horse, Mr. Tooth says, all the blood in the 

 veins, under the white parts of the head, was quite stagnated, though he could 

 perceive it to flow as usual in other parts of the body, under the brown hair; and 

 the skin, together with one side of the tongue, was parched and dried up to a 

 greater degree than any he had ever seen before. The Ijorse stood in a stall close 

 to the door of the stable, which was boarded on that side, and through them, 

 he thinks, the lightning struck him. 



Mr. Lambert sent another instance of the effect of lightning on a bullock of 

 Mr. Alse's, at Glynd; it was similar to the other he sent in every respect, except 

 that the stroke on this must have been greater, as the scarf-skin seemed to be 

 peeling off with the hair all over the rump. He thinks too that this is more 

 curious, as all the red spots, even those small ones on the side, remain firm and 

 smooth, without the least injury. Here also, as in the former instance, after 

 the lightning had passed the greatest diameter of the body, the white hair is left 

 entire, particularly under the belly, on the legs, &c. 



To the preceding account Mr. Henly adds the following queries: 1st. Are 

 not the dark-coloured hairs stronger in their texture than the white or light-co- 

 loured ones?* 'idly. If the dark-coloured hairs are the strongest, may not this 

 be owing to their being more deeply rooted, and partaking more largely of that 



, nutritive matter which produces and supports hair? And does not the change of 



dark-coloured hair to grey, in persons advanced in years, seem to favour this 



supposition? 3dly. If the above suppositions are allowed, may not any internal 



injury to the skin, as a violent electric explos'on passing through it, prove more 



atal to the white or light hair than to the black, red, or darker colours? 



Having mentioned the foregoing particulars to Dr. A, Fothergill, at North- 

 ampton, he has favoured me with some conjectures, which I shall take the 

 liberty of annexing to this paper; viz. " The recent fact you mention, of the 



• This is a foct so well known to house-painters, that they do not by choice admit a dark liair into 

 tlieir brushes, as they would occasion a disagreeable roughness in their work. J. Coventry. 

 — Orig. 



