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XV. An Account of fome extraordinary E feels of Lightning. 
By William Withering, M. D. F. R. S. 
Read March 1 8, 1790. 
P ERMIT me to requeft the attention of the Royal So- 
ciety, whilft I mention a few fa£ts relative to a thunder 
cloud, the lightning from which fufed a quantity of quart- 
zofe matter. 
This cloud formed in the fouth, in the afternoon of Sept. 3, 
1789, and took its courfe nearly due north. In its paflage 
it fet fire to a field of {landing corn ; but the rain prefently 
extinguifhed the fire. Soon afterwards the lightning ftruck an 
oak tree, in the Earl of Aylesford’s park at Packington. 
The heighth of this tree is 39 feet, including its trunk, 
which is 13 feet. It did not flrike the higheft bough, but that 
which projected fartheft fouthward. A man, who had taken 
Ihelter againft the north fide of the tree, was ftruck dead in- 
ftantaneoufly, his cloaths fet on fire, and the mofs ( lichen) on 
the trunk of the tree, where the back of his head had refted, was 
likewife burnt. Two men, fpedlators of the accident, ran 
immediately towards him upon feeing him fall ; and as it rained 
hard, and a fmall lake had collected almoft clofe to the fpot, 
the fire was very foon extinguifhed ; but the efifedts of the fire 
on one-half of his body, and on his cloaths, were fuch as to 
fhew, that the whole burning was inftantaneous, not pro- 
greftive. 
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