Account of a Thunder -form in Scotland. 147 
Lauder*' was killed, than over the place where his com- 
panion was : for, I have (hewn, in my Treatife upon 
Electricity y, that, in order for a perfon to receive a dan- 
gerous returning ftroke, fuch perfon fhould be immerged, 
not merely in the eleCtrical atmofphere of the thunder- 
cloud, but in the denfe part of the cloud’s ele&rical atmo- 
fphere. 
The faCt above alluded to may alfo be accounted for in the 
following vvay, viz. by fuppofmg that the fecond cart were 
either better connected with the common ftock, or that it were 
better infulated, than La uder’s cart : for, I have fhewn, in mv 
Principles of EleCtricity J, (what is very remarkable, namely,) 
that either of thefe two oppofte circumftances will weaken the 
force of a returning ftroke prodigioufly. Now, Mr. Brydone 
mentions, that there had been an “ almoft total want of rain 
“ for many months.” He alfo fays, that “ the ground” (at 
the place where Lauder was killed) “ was remarkably dry, 
“ and of a gravelly foil.” This ftate of the ground was par- 
ticularly adapted to the production of the eleCtrical returning 
ftroke, when produced upon the large fcale of nature, where 
'the elaftic eleCtrical preffure is fo powerful. 
§ 31. The account which Mr. Brydone has given of this 
thunder-ftorm in Scotland is not more curious than it is 
inftruCtive. 
* See Principles of Ele&ricity, § 318. 
f See, in my Principles of EleSricity, Experiments 38, 39, and 40, from 
^ 280 to § 296, inclufively. See alio §312, §318, § 334 > anc ^ § 3 ° 7 * 
I See Principles of Ele&ricity, from § 248 to § 310, inclufively; and fee 
particularly § 307. 
U 2 
In 
