248 The Museum Gazette 



the boughs which had been killed became brown that atten- 

 tion was drawn to it. When it was found, very interesting 

 conditions were revealed. A portion of the bole about mid- 

 way between the ground and the top is stripped of its bark 

 for a length of about three feet and left bare but not shattered. 

 Communicating with this and passing up to the top of the 

 tree is a bough which has obviously been dead for some time, 

 and through which it may be conjectured that the current 

 passed. The leaves on the branches adjacent to this are 

 dead and brown, but the evidences of damage either by 

 scorching or shattering are not great. There is no further 

 evidence of injury until we come to the bole just below where 

 the largest branches join. Here, on one side, there is a broad 

 strip from which the bark has been torn, exposing the wood 

 beneath. For three or four inches on each side of this rent 

 the bark, although in position, is loose, as proved by tapping 

 it, but on all more distant parts it remains firmly fixed. The 

 rent ends a few inches above the ground and there is no sign 

 of perforation of the latter. The grass and brambles show 

 no traces of scorching. On the opposite side of the tree there 

 is another vertical slit in the bark, not so wide as that just 

 described, but running lower and attended by a somewhat 

 indefinite hole in the earth. The brambles and grass around 

 this are obviously burnt, but not to any wide extent. Thus 

 it may be suspected that the current passed mainly down the 

 wood itself of the bole and only to a small extent between 

 the bole and the bark. The fact that it has broken through 

 the bark on two sides without loosening the latter widely is 

 proof of this. If so, probably a large part of the middle 

 substance of the bole will die and a hollow tree will result. 

 The conditions are exactly parallel to those described at 

 p. 205, as occurring in an oak now standing at Combeswell. 

 Flammarion quotes the following statement : — 



" Boussingault witnessed the destruction by lightning of a wild pear 

 tree at Lamperlasch, near Beekelleroun. At the moment of the 

 explosion an enormous column of vapour arose, like smoke coming 



