In the province of Sibacoa, Cuba, in August, 1823, lightning imprinted on the trunk of a big tree a picture of a bent nail, which was to be found, bent in the opposite direction, embedded in one of the upper branches.
On July 24, 1852, in a plantation at St. Vincent in Cuba, a palm tree was struck by lightning, and engraved on its dried leaves was a picture of pine trees which surrounded it at a distance of nearly 400 yards.
Dr. Sestier tells us that after the 1850 meeting of the American a.s.sociation, a person was killed by lightning while standing up near a whitewashed wall, and that his silhouette was fixed upon the wall in a dark colour.
With such facts before us, we seem bound to believe in the existence of some kind of especial rays, ceraunic rays, emitted by lightning, and capable of photographing alike on the skin of human beings, animals, and plants, more or less distinct pictures of objects far and near.
Decidedly, we have much to learn in this as well as in all the other branches of knowledge.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Academie des Sciences, Aot 3, 1868.
[2] "Conjectures physiques sur les plus extraordinaires effets du Tonnerre." Paris, MDCXCVI.