N U M B E R XVI .
An abridged A C COUNT o f the E F F E C T S of the
H P \ N 1 N G ’ Whi°h br° ke °n M ehiU H °ufe in
F/ f , tre> the Seat Earl o f Leven, on the 27th of
Vcfooery 1733 : . . - -
b e i n g
^ P r o fd . rofeffofar ooff MMa tdhie *m aticks, at EdinburghM, tro' SCi“r H»a n«s S«loa-n.,
P a r t H p. |
“ S I R , - Ewdin bzu rghI , BsMee. 3, 1733
“ A T the defire of the Earl of Leven, I went to MehiU Houfe I
and took a particular .fumy of the effefts of the liahtnhw
winch broke upon the houfe on the 27th of OMoler laft. &
lend you the following relation1, tnhootu gdhotu kbtninmg of byeo umr thin 1k,™9 if
worthy the attention of the Royal Society. The houfe Hands about
20.mil«: north froirx Edinburgh, on the north fide of a plain which
" fUrr0Und k’ and “ & j jw extend »“ the S ^ f "
¿ , fiT Weathgr ^ th'S C°Untry from £he 9th ^ the 25th of
M r , when,the mercury fell very confiderably, and the weather
.changed.
changed. The 26th was a very bad day, having heavy rain, and in'
fome places fnow and hail. On the 27th,-the wind was weft, the
morning cloudy, and we had thunder and lightning in many places
very remote from Melville ■
“ It was on the 27th, betwixt fix and feven in the morning, that'
the lightning broke upon the houfe, attended with loud peals of thunder.
I could only meet with one man who was in the.fields at that
time, who was fo much terrified that I could gather but little from
him,-. He faid the ftorm came from theN. E. towards the S. W.
felt it very hot, and a ftrong fulphurious fmell as the lightning palled
over him, faw it break,"as he imagined,, with all the colours of the
rainbow among the trees near, the houfe,. filling all the country round
with an extraordinary light.
“ The houfe is covered with lead, and has four chimney-tops on
each fide of the cupola. Of the four on the eaft end of the houle,
one of them,.in which was one of the kitchen vents, and where there
only was fire at that time of the morning, was beat down level, with
the lead rooff: fome of the ftones were carried above - one 100 feet
into the garden. The fclates which covered the: Hoping part of the
rooff on the weft end were broke off" for a confiderable fpace. There
was one.breach,appearing in the outfide of the wall,- which we were
fure pierced through it. This was in the Attick ftory, towards the
weft end of the north front. A ftone was drove 20 feet from the
breach upon a level, broke a fplinter off a ftone ftep of. a back ftair-
cafe, and rebounded 12 feet. That part of the. lightning which
produced the moft confiderable effefts came down the chimney-head
which is the moft northerly of the four on the eaft of the cupola,
where there is a vent of another, chimney in the kitchen. In its
defcent