so that I only saw the reflection of the light. Mr. Feilding was at the time passing along the road below the hill on which my house stands, when he saw a ball of fire descend in a curve, slowly, about 50 yards from the house, close to the ground, between him and the house. It appeared to explode with a tremendous noise. Careful examination of the grass where the ball fell showed no trace of burning or other mark. Simultaneously with this phenomenon, a large tree (Irvinia) in the Economic Garden was struck by lightning, but hardly injured. This stroke was the last flash of the storm."
(2) "A thunderstorm was taking place over the Bukit Timah Road, beyond the Economic Garden, one Sunday about two years ago, at between one and two p.m. The sky was bright, but not cloudless, and the sun brilliant over my house, and I went out on the lawn to look at the distant storm to the North. I saw a zigzag flash apparently about three-quarters of a mile away, and, almost absolutely simultaneously, a peal of thunder came from behind me, and behind the house to the west. I saw nothing to account for this, but Mr. Robertson-Glasgow, who was sitting in a room facing west, saw a luminous body, not ball-shaped, though more or less rounded, moving in a downward curve to the South, till it disappeared behind some trees, and was followed by the thunder. It was less bright than the sunlight."
The only local cases of damage to buildings reported are those at the Cape Rachado and Muka Head Lighthouses. The writer was fortunately able to inspect the former not long after the occurrence, and found it to be an interesting example of side flash, a discharge having left the very fine Lightning Rod Conference" copper conductor at a bend and made sundry holes in solid masonry walls, traversing two rooms and finally being dissipated over the sheet of rain water collected in a courtyard. The Lightkeeper's report shows that in this case the "expenditure of observers" deprecated by Dr. Lodge, nearly occurred, as the matting under two low wooden beds, on which some of the lighthouse attendants were lying at the time, was torn to pieces. The report concludes:—"In that time Serang, Tindal and two Lascars is inside the room grate of the Almighty pity there had not been anything happen."
