The Scorching Effects of Lightning 1 7 



neck and almost half the length of its back. From near the 

 base of the antler, however, there is usually a strong tine 

 which is directed forwards. Sometimes the antlers and their 

 tines are all rounded, but in others parts of them become 

 flat and palmated. When excessively long they are often 

 slender. 



THE SCORCHING EFFECTS OF LIGHTNING. 



The illustration here given is copied from a photograph 

 taken in a wood at Haslemere. Its object is to prove that 

 when lightning strikes a tree it develops a globe of heat which 

 scorches adjacent objects. In this instance only one tree was 

 killed, and this was the only one which gave evidence of the 

 lightning having passed down the trunk. The boughs of 

 several adjacent trees were, however, killed, and of one the 

 whole of its upper half was involved. This was the tree 

 which stood nearest to the one actually struck. In the latter 

 the bark was detached down the whole of its trunk, but in 

 the others only the topmost branches and those which projected 

 nearest to the one killed were involved. No better explana- 

 tion than that which we have suggested above can probably 

 be given. We purpose during the next few months to have 

 a good deal to say about the nature and effects of lightning. 

 For the present we desire only to impress the single fact 

 referred to. It is one probably well known to all who have 

 studied the subject, and which finds illustration in many 

 lightning accidents. 



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