1884.] on Rainbows. 469 



have seen the Glory of Buddha several times. They relate that it 

 resembles a golden sun-like disk, enclosed in a ring of prismatic 

 colours more closely blended than in the rainbow. . . . The mission- 

 aries inform me that it was about three o'clock in the afternoon, near 

 the middle of August, when they saw the meteor, and that it was only 

 visible when the precipice was more or less clothed in mist. It 

 appeared to lie on the surface of the mist, and was always in the 

 direction of a line drawn from the sun through their heads, as is 

 certified by the fact that the shadow of their heads was seen on the 

 meteor. They could get their heads out of the way, so to speak, by 

 stooping down, but are not sure if they could do so by stepping aside. 

 Each spectator, how^ever, could see the shadows of the bystanders as 

 well as his own projected on ta the appearance. They did not observe 

 any rays spreading from it. The central disk, they think, is a 

 reflected image of the sun, and the inclosing ring is a rainbow. The 

 ring was in thickness about one-fourth of the diameter of the disk, and 

 distant from it by about the same extent ; but the recollection of one 

 informant was that the ring touched the disk, without any intervening 

 space. The shadow of a head, when thrown upon it. covered about 

 one-eighth of the whole diameter of the meteor. The rainbow rincr 

 was not quite complete in its lower part, but they attribute this to 

 the interposition of the edge of the precipice. They see no reason 

 why the appearance should not be visible at night when the moon is 

 brilliant and appositely placed. They profess themselves to have been 

 a good deal surprised, but not startled, by the spectacle. They would 

 consider it remarkable rather than astonishing, and are disposed to 

 call it a very impressive phenomenon." 



It is to be regretted that Mr. Baber failed to see the " Glory," and 

 that we in consequence miss his own description of it. There seems 

 a slight inadvertence in the statement that the head could be got out of 

 the way by stooping ; for, as long as the " Glory " remained a circle, 

 the shadow of the head must have occupied its centre. Stepping 

 aside would simply displace the bow, but not abolish the shadow. 



Thus, starting from the first faint circle seen drawn through the 

 thick darkness at Alp Lusgen, we have steadily followed and developed 

 our phenomenon, and ended by rendering the " Glory of Buddha " a 

 captive of the laboratory. The result might be taken as typical of 

 larger things. f J T 1 



WEEKLY EVENING MEETING, 



Friday, January 25, 1884. 



Warren De La Kue, Esq. M.A. D.C.L. F.R.S. Vice-President, 



in the Chair. 



H. H. Johnston, Esq. 

 Kilima-njdro, the Snowdad Mountain of Equatorial Africa. 



(No Abstract received.) 



