238 
THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 
C — I never before saw rain anything like it : the large 
hail preceding it ; then the shower itself^ coming down in 
dense sheets^ and the drops so large and heavy ! why, the 
roads, with all their thick beds of dust, in five minutes were 
mere water-courses. And how vivid the lightning ! coming 
from no particular point, but appearing to fill the sky with 
one blaze, followed in quick succession by deafening roars of 
thunder, dying away and taken up again in repeated echoes ! 
It was quite appalling, 
F, — A great evil needs a strong remedy : a gentle rain 
would not cool the air sufficiently to be attended with any 
lasting benefit ; nor would it have wet the earth to such a 
depth. But the change in the air is chiefly caused by the 
sudden restoration of the equilibrium of the electric fluid, 
which had been destroyed by the great heats. After the 
storm had ceased, a more beautiful scene, though not so ter- 
rifically sublime, was presented by the lightning, which con- 
tinued to play in the clouds around the horizon, after the 
thunder had ceased to be heard, and the sky over head had 
recovered its azure serenity. Long after sun- set, the horizon 
was ever and anon lighted up with brilliant flashes, some- 
times cleaving their zigzag path apparently through a dense 
cloud, then shining behind, and round the edge of a black 
mass of cloud, which was shown in full distinctness and 
dark outline. 
C. — I have often seen in summer evenings, gleams of 
lightning around the horizon, unaccompanied by thunder : 
it is called by some people, summer lightning;'' does it 
differ in its nature from that which is followed by thunder ? 
F, — I believe not : the cause of the thunder's not being 
heard is, as I suppose, nothing more than its distance : light 
being visible at an incomparably greater distance than sound 
is audible. We sometimes see summer lightning at evening, 
even when the horizon-sky seems perfectly clear and cloud- 
