348 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



for nearly two hours this continued to be the case, the rays, or stream- 

 ers, running from the southern as well as the northern horizon to this 

 spot. At Principe, in Cuba, latitude 21 north, it was remarkably 

 brilliant in the northeast, for several hours, an extremely rare phenome- 

 non in that latitude. In Asia Minor, at Smyrna, Salonica, and Odessa, 

 and in Upper California, longitude 122 west, latitude 37 37' north, 

 the aurora attracted unusual attention. In the latter place it was 

 the first display that had ever been noticed by an individual who had 

 resided for a considerable period in the country. In various parts of 

 England and Scotland the exhibition is represented to have been of 

 extraordinary magnificence. 



BAROMETRIC VARIATIONS IN INDIA. 



THE Bombay Times contains an interesting article on the barometric 

 variations, as observed at Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta, which shows 

 that the greatest pressure for all parts of India occurs between the 

 15th and 22d of January, and gradually diminishes until June, when it 

 reaches its minimum. The following are the mean maxima and min- 

 ima for coincident periods : 



Jan. June. 



Madras, j 29.998 29.668 



Bombay, 29.944 29.633 



Calcutta, 29.962 29.506 



Aden, 29.915 29.606 



On the 5th of February and the two following days, the barometer 

 at the first three localities indicated the extraordinary mean pressure 

 of 30.200 inches. 



BLACK RAIN IN IRELAND. 



ON the 14th of May, a shower of black rain fell in several 

 parts of Ireland. It was particularly noticed at Carlo w, Kilkenny, 

 and Abbeyleix, and is supposed to have extended over an area of 

 more than four hundred square miles. It occurred about six o'clock 

 in the evening, and was preceded by such extreme darkness, that it 

 was impossible to read except by candlelight. After this darkness 

 had existed for some time, a hail-storm, attended with vivid lightning, 

 but without thunder, occurred, and when this subsided, the black rain 

 fell. This rain was found on examination to have an extremely fetid 

 smell and a disagreeable taste; it left a stain upon some clothes on 

 which it had fallen, and the cattle refused to drink of it. A bottle 

 of this rain has been presented to the Royal Dublin Society by Prof. 

 Barker. The specimen had been sent to him from Carlow, accompa- 

 nied by a letter, in which the writer mentioned that at the time of its 

 collection it was uniformly black, and resembled writing-ink. Prof. 

 Barker had found, that, by allowing it to stand for a time, the black col- 

 oring matter separated from the water with which it had been mixed, 

 rendering the color of the rain much lighter than at first. 



