( 36B ) 
Alit. XXV . — Account of a Remarlcahle Shower of Haii 
which fell in Orkney on the ^Mh of July 1818. By Patkick 
Neill, F. B. S. Edin. F. L. S. & Sec. Wern. Soc, ^ 
nn 
JL HE morning of the S4th of July 1818, was, in Orkney, 
clear and warm, with a slight air of wind at due south. About 
midday the atmosphere became overclouded. Between twelve 
and one o’clock, thunder and lightning began ; and after these 
had continued with little intermission for about an hour and a 
half, the Beverend Mr Taylor of Stronsa observed a very dense 
jet black cloud, apparently rising from the sea, at the distance of 
about five or six miles. It then seemed of no great dimensions ; 
but its magnitude was gradually developed, as it approached 
steadily, and apparently with increasing velocity, from the 
southward, in a direct line toward the centre of the island. It 
now assumed a dismally ominous aspect, and occasioned a 
considerable degree of darkness^ The lightning became pro- 
portionally more vivid, and the peals of thunder more tremen- 
dous. Mr Taylor remarked one flash of lightning to be not 
only brighter than the rest, but to exert a more extensive in- 
fluence on the cloud, which seemed as if cleft asunder, and 
presented a momentary opening of the prospect between the 
Mainland of Orkney and the Island of Stronsa. The thun- 
der-bolt on this occasion seemed to strike the surface of Stron- 
sa Frith in the manner of a solid body dashing into the sea. 
Bichard Caithness, who possesses the farm of Huiiday in 
the island of Stronsa, was engaged in the making of kelp on 
the shore, when he perceived the cloud advancing fast towards 
his own farm-steading. He immediately hurried home. At 
this time the v/ind began to rise ; the surface of the sea was 
greatly ruffled ; and darkness like that of night threatened to 
come on. Just as he reached his house, the cloud overtook 
him. The lightning was now instantaneously followed by 
* Abridged from the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh^ vol. ix. 
p 187., to which the reader is referred for a fuller account of this very remark- 
able phenomenon. Mr Neill’s paper is illustrated with a map shewing the track 
of the hail shower. 
