Science: Where Lightning Strikes

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SCIENCE

Nearing its end last week in the English countryside was a three-year census of lightning-struck trees, conducted by S. T. E. Dark of the South London Botanical Institute. Mr. Dark did not question the fact that during thunderstorms it is more dangerous to seek shelter under a lone tree than to stay in the open, but he thought it worthwhile to find out just what trees are most likely, which least likely, to be struck. Oaks, he discovered, are lightning's favorite targets; then elms, pines, poplars, willows, ashes. Mr.Dark found not a single beech, birch, horse-chestnut or holly that had been scarred by lightning. He advised Britons caught in storms to get into a holly bush or a clump of small beeches.