Jennings named the types of lightning he photographed according to their patterns of electric discharge. The table below outlines the forms reported on by The Franklin Institute, paring each with a digitized version of the original image.
| "Branched" discharge: named for the delicate "branches" created by its electric discharge. |
Report Plate 3. (147K) |
| "Beaded" lightning: a photograph of this unique form of lightning was printed in the French publication "La Nature" (Nature) and entitled "the rosary." |
Report Plate 4. (115K)
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| "Ribbon" lightning: in an article printed in the Journal of The Franklin Institute, Jennings explained that wind moving across the path of lightning in space produced a ribbon-like form of lightning. |
Report Plate 5. (165K)
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| "Multiple flash": Jennings showed that lightning sometimes prepares a path for successive flashes. |
Report Plate 7. (128K) |
| "Meandering" flash: form of lightning discharge that takes place from cloud to cloud, usually occurring at the end of a storm. |
Report Plate 9. (120K) |
| Subject to debate: this photo captures the phenomenon of a brilliant main flash with dark side branches, the cause of which has been given a great deal of discussion. |
Report Plate 10. (231K)
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