- thunder. Bot or ve heir the thondir, ve see fyrst the fyir, quhou be it that thai proceid at ane instant tyme. The cause that ve see the fyire or ve heir the thoundir, is be rason that the sycht and cleirnes of ony thing is mair suyft touart vs nor is the sound. The euyl that the thondir dois on the eird, it is dune or ve heir the crak of it (Sir David Lindsay The Complaynte of Scotland 1549). [Before we hear the thunder, we see first the fire, howbeit that they occur at one and the same time. The cause that we see the fire before we hear the thunder is by reason that the sight and clearness of any thing is more swift towards us than is the sound. The damage that the thunder does on the earth is done before we hear the crack of it.] This quotation from Sir David Lindsay was cutting edge science for its time since he states that light travels more swiftly than sound, implying at least that the speed of light is not infinite. Although this view had been held by some, such as Avicenna, since about 1000 CE, it was still a matter for debate and, a century after Lindsay, Descartes was still holding to the opposite view. It was not until 1638 that Galileo suggested ways in which the speed of light might be measured scientifically and the first estimate of the speed of light was made by in 1676.