BOOK II.] History of Nature. 89 



thereabout, are free from Lightnings. And Egypt 1 , likewise, 

 from a contrary Cause, is exempt from Lightnings, the Rea- 

 son being its excessive Heat : for the hot and dry Exhalations 

 of the Earth gather into very slender, thin, and weak Clouds. 

 But in the Spring and Autumn, Lightnings are more rife ; 

 because in both those Seasons the Causes as well of Summer 

 as Winter are corrupt. And this is the Reason that Light- 

 nings are common in Italy ; for the Air being more mov- 

 able, by Reason of a milder Winter and a cloudy Summer, is 

 always of the Temperature of Spring or Autumn. In those 

 Parts, also, of Italy, which lie off from the North, and in- 

 cline to Warmth (as, namely, in the Tract about Rome and 

 Campania), there is Lightning in Winter and Summer alike, 

 which happeneth in no other Part thereof. 



CHAPTER LI. 

 Sundry Sorts of Lightnings, and Wonders thereof. 



VERY many Kinds of Lightning are set down by Authors. 

 Those that come dry burn not, but only disperse. They that 

 come moist do not burn, but blast and embrown. A third 

 Kind there is, which they call Bright and Clear; and that is 

 of a wonderful Nature, whereby Tuns are drawn dry, and 

 their Sides, Hoops, and Heads never touched, nor any other 

 Token thereof is left behind. Gold, Copper, and Silver 2 are 



1 The circumstance that Egypt is naturally exempt from lightning, 

 must have greatly heightened the terrors of the Seventh Plague with 

 which God visited this land in the days of the Exodus. But though 

 very rare, thunder and lightning are not unknown in Egypt, at least 

 in modern times. Thevenot mentions a man who was killed by light- 

 ning at Cairo, when he was there ; but such a circumstance had never 

 been known before. Rain, and even hail, have also been seen; but 

 all these phenomena are less severe than in other countries. Wern. 

 Club. 



2 The facts here mentioned must have appeared as unaccountable as 

 stupendous, before the modern discoveries of Franklin and others, relative 

 to the attractions of the electric fluid : the existence of which, as an agent 

 of Nature, was not dreamt of in the philosophy of Pliny and the ancient 

 observers. Wern. Club. 



