Remarkable Form of Lightning

Abstract

I AM able to confirm the fact that lightning occasionally takes the “punctuated” form described by Mr. Joule in NATURE, vol. xviii. p. 260. Some forty years ago, in a thunderstorm which I had the good fortune to witness at Ampton, in Suffolk, the lightning (with heavy rain) was almost incessant for half an hour or more, and about a quarter of the flashes (speaking from memory only) presented this unusual appearance. I have often looked out for it since, but only once with success, and then it only showed itself in a single flash out of many. On both occasions the “punctuated” flashes presented in general a curved or sinuous line without sharp angles; and two or three of them in the first-mentioned storm appeared to my eye as closed curves, one an almost perfect figure of 8; but their dazzling brightness made it impossible to speak to this with certainty.