132 Occasional Meteorological Remarks and Observations, 



in blackness, and that quarter of the sky became more gene- 

 rally dark ; it then became short, with a broad conical termina- 

 tion, nearly as represented at Fig. 11. During this change 

 the currents descending on the east and ascending on the west 

 side presented at the bottom the appearance of violent ebullition. 

 The waterspout then merged into the cloud above, and in about 

 twenty minutes after being first observed it wholly disappeared. 



The weather had been dry and sultry (temp. 61°.3) and the 

 air appeared highly electrified. The change which followed 

 was very remarkable. Partial torrents of rain fell in the direc- 

 tion in which the phenomenon was observed ; and it was re- 

 marked in the vicinity of the place where I noticed it, that such 

 a fall of rain had seldom been seen, although there only a few 

 drops fell. The shower appears to have moved from the N.W. 

 as I observed a very curious effect upon the dusty roads, which 

 were extremely partially soaked in that direction. 



May 22d. — 4 a. temperature of the solar rays, 94°. 



June 4th. — At 7 a. I saw a portion of a solar halo on a 

 parallel stationary cirrus near the horizon. The whitest part of 

 the cirrus was so strongly brightened as almost to resemble a 

 parhelion. It might be 20° south of the sun, (then setting), and 

 only a small portion of the halo in that direction was percep- 

 tible. It showed the prismatic colours pretty distinctly, and 

 disappeared in about half an hour. 



June 24th, 25th, 26th. — On these days, especially the last, 

 a very intense temperature occurred. See a copious account 

 of my observations on the occasion in this Journal for October 

 1826. 



July 17th. — The following occasional thermometrical and 

 other observations were made in the course of this day. [See 

 Table II., p. 142.] 



July 31 st. — During a very favourable voyage from London 

 to Calais, several very interesting meteorological phenomena 

 were observed. About 30J m. a most tremendous flash of 

 lightning was seen near Greenwich, followed by thunder and 

 rain. It was the brightest I ever witnessed in this country. At 

 5J a. having passed the north foreland, I observed on the 

 horizon at the south foreland a very beautiful mirage, which 

 was soon after visible at the former point. It was an uncom- 

 monly fine example, and the ships were most distinctly refracted 



