Miscellanies. 211 



perature, and the quarter of the heavens in which the shower origina- 

 ted, is difficult to account for. It resembled one of those tropical 

 storms which announce the breaking up of the diy, and the commence- 

 ment of the wet season. 



About the middle of the afternoon of the 14th, masses of clouds were 

 observed low in the N. and N. E., and the presence of the cirri con- 

 nected with them, clearly indicated their character. At 5 o'clock dis- 

 tant thunder could be heard ; and at dusk the horizon from N. to N. E. 

 was almost constantly illuminated by continued flashes of lightning. 

 These seemed to originate mostly from two points, one nearly N. and 

 the other about N. E.* The movement of these clouds was so very slow, 

 that the storm did not commence until past 9 o'clock in the evening, 

 and was at its height from half past 9 till 10 o'clock. During the ap- 

 proach and continuance of the shower, the appearance was strikingly 

 sublime. There was scarce a moment in which streams of electric 

 fluid were not pouring from the clouds in dazzling brilliancy ; and peal 

 after peal succeeded each other with such rapidity, that the roar and 

 rattle was continuous and deafening, and so violent that windows, build- 

 ings, and even the solid earth, trembled with the concussions. It was 

 not the deep rolling thunder of the summer cloud, in which only an oc- 

 casional discharge of electricity reaches the earth ; but those sharp, 

 instantaneous and crashing reports, which told that the fire of heaven's 

 artillery was as efl^ective as it was rapid. That such was the case is 

 evident from the fact, that at one point in the south part of Onondaga, 

 the lightning struck no less than eight or ten times within a circle of a 

 mile in diameter; and in another case, in a wood of only about thirty 

 acres, it struck in no less than five different places. As already observ- 

 ed, there was no wind, and the rain poured perpendicularly in sudden 

 dashes ; now, as though the sluices of the clouds were opened, and then 

 ceasing as totally as if they had been instantaneously closed. 



The destructive effects of the lightning show that the central points 

 of the storm passed from the north ; one, a little west of the central 

 part of Onondaga county, and the other crossed in the same direction 

 over Oneida and Madison counties. We have noticed in the journals 

 of these three counties the destruction of no less than nineteen barns, 

 with sheds, cowhouses, &c., and in the county of Cortland, two barns, 

 one dwelling house, and several outhouses ; and every where in the 

 course of the showers, great numbers of horses, cattle, sheep, and 

 swine were killed. Fortunately, although several dwelling houses were 

 struck, and many persons were knocked down or severely stunned, 

 there were none killed, so far as we have learned. 



*It will be remembered that the place of observation was about fifteen miles 

 W. of S. from Syracuse, Onondaga Co. 



