Cases of Lightning" Discharge. 



By G. E. V. Thomas, a.m.i.c.e. 



Communicated by H. N. Ridley. 



The study of lightning phenomena is of great interest and 

 importance, and as the conditions which obtain in Malaya are ex- 

 tremely favourable for the observation of such phenomena, as re- 

 gards the frequency and violence of thunder storms, it is some- 

 what surprising to rind that the accounts so far available are few. 

 Those here given are of interest as being descriptive of unusual 

 effects. 



In well-marked cases of the destructive effect of lightning 

 on trees, the tree struck is completely shattered. Such instances 

 are familiar, probably because they are immediately apparent as 

 the result of a severe storm ; but the gradual decay and death 

 of a number of trees in the vicinity of one struck, which would 

 seem to be a frequent after-effect, is a form of damage which, as 

 far as the writer can ascertain, has not previously been noted. 



The following account, from the diary of Mr. H. N. Ridley, 

 Director of Gardens and Forests, S. S., describes such an effect, 

 which occurred in a coco-nut plantation in Singapore. 



" May 3rd 1898. Visited Siglap and saw a place where, more 

 than a month previously, a tree was struck by a tremendous 

 flash. From this tree in a semicircle (there being none on the 

 outer side) eleven more trees died. The deaths appeared to radi- 

 ate out from struck tree gradually. Three were still standing ; 

 they bore young fruit and flowers, but the whole of the foliage 

 looked as if burnt. One was still alive and putting up a fresh 

 leaf. One, covered with fungi, had been dead some time. Why 

 this progressive death ? Inspector tells me he saw a similar 

 case where, some time after the death of coco-nuts, some mango- 

 steen trees withered away in like manner. 



A similar instance recently occurred in the Botanical Gar- 

 dens, Singapore, and was brought to the writer's notice by the 



