672 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



large and beautifully colored water-wheel, the more richly colored 

 circle of the turpentine makes its appearance. Or, beginning with 

 turpentine, and forming its concentrated iris ; on turning on the 

 water-spray, though to the eye the shower seems absolutely homoge- 

 neous, its true character is instantly declared by the flashing out of the 

 larger concentric aqueous bow. The water primary is accompanied by 

 its secondary close at hand. Associated, moreover, with all the bows, 

 primary and secondary, are the supernumeraries which belong to them ; 

 and a more superb experimental illustration of optical principles it 

 would be hardly possible to witness. It is not the less impressive be- 

 cause extracted from the simple combination of a beam of light and a 

 shower of rain. 



In the "Philosophical Transactions" for 1835, the late' Colonel 

 Sykes gave a vivid description of a circular solar rainbow, observed 

 by him in India, during periods when fogs and mists were prevalent 

 in the chasms of the Ghats of the Deccan : 



It was during such periods that I had several opportunities of witnessing that 

 singular phenomenon, the circular rainbow, which, from its rareness, is spoken 

 of as a possible occurrence only. The stratum of fog from the Konkun on some 

 occasions rose somewhat above the level of the top of a precipice forming the 

 northwest scarp of the hill fort of Hurreechundurghur, from two to three thou- 

 sand feet perpendicular, without coming over upon the table-land. I was placed 

 at the edge of the precipice just without the limits of the fog, and with a cloud- 

 less sun at my back at a very low elevation. Under such a combination of fa- 

 vorable circumstances, the circular rainbow appeared quite perfect, of the most 

 vivid colors, one half above the level on which I stood, the other half below it. 

 Shadows in distinct outline of myself, my horse, and people appeared in the cen- 

 ter of the circle as a picture, to which the bow formed a resplendent frame. My 

 attendants were incredulous that the figures they saw under such extraordinary 

 circumstances could be their own shadows, and they tossed their arms and lega, 

 about, and put their bodies into various postures, to be assured of the fact by 

 the corresponding movements of the objects within the circle; and it was some 

 little time ere the superstitious feeling with which the spectacle was viewed 

 wore off. From our proximity to the fog, I believe the diameter of the circle at 

 no time exceeded fifty or sixty feet. The brilliant circle was accompanied by 

 the usual outer bow in fainter colors. 



Mr. E. Colborne Baber, an accomplished and intrepid traveler, has 

 recently enriched the " Transactions " of the Royal Geographical So- 

 ciety by a paper of rare merit, in which his travels in Western China 

 are described. He made there the ascent of Mount O an eminence 

 of great celebrity. Its height is about eleven thousand feet above the 

 sea, and it is flanked on one side by a cliff " a good deal more than a 

 mile in height." From the edge of this cliff, which is guarded by 

 posts and chains, you look into an abyss, and if fortune, or rather the 

 mists, favor you, you see there a miracle, which is thus described by 

 Mr. Baber : 



Naturally enough it is with some trepidation that pilgrims approach this fear- 



