Abstract
YOUR note in NATURE, vol. xxii. p. 204, on the recent thunderstorm at Geneva induces me to send you a note on a tree struck by lightning in Stoneleigh Park during a severe storm on last Thursday week (June 24). The tree was a fine oak about forty feet high, and the lightning seemed to have struck not among the smaller branches at the top, but about two-thirds of the way up the main trunk, just where several of the larger branches came off from the stem. From this point to the ground the bark had been rent off along a strip about three inches wide, and through the whole length the wood beneath the bark had been gauged out as if by a carpenter's tool, the groove made being about an inch wide and deep. The curious fact of the tree being struck apparently among the branches at once suggested to me that the electricity must have travelled, without visible effect, through the upper branches, and only produced disruption of the wood when the current was strengthened by the combination of a great number of separate streams. I had forgotten that this was Prof. Colladon's theory of electric discharge, but am glad to be able to give it the support of this observation.
Article PDF
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
CUMMING, L. Effects of Lightning on Trees. Nature 22, 220 (1880). https://doi.org/10.1038/022220c0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/022220c0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.