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As connected with liglit, I may remind you of the splendid 

 manifestation of the " Aurora Borealis " on the evening of Thurs- 

 day, January 31 last. Standing on Blacklieath, I witnessed the 

 pulsations of the aurora reaching to the zenith, and shedding a 

 brilliant light over the heavens. 



Leaving now matters connected with light, I pass on to notice 

 two topics of local interest which may possibly deserve a record 

 amongst us. 



None of us, probably, have ever seen so severe a snow-storm 

 as that which visited not only bur own locality, but the whole of 

 the eastern and central parts of Great Britain on Tuesday, Jan- 

 uary 18th, 1881. A strong wind of almost unexampled fierceness 

 drove the snow from the north-east in such abundance, and heaped 

 it in such drifts, as soon to render roads impassable. In some 

 parts of Blackheath the snow was from ten to twelve feet deep, 

 while the road between Loampit Hill to Lewisham was in parts 

 covered with snow fourteen feet deep. The railway cutting 

 near St. John's was so filled with snow that no train was able to 

 get through after early in the afternoon ; the next day the traffic 

 on the Mid-Kent line continued to be suspended, and several days 

 elapsed before matters were restored to their usual condition. The 

 roads were with great difficulty cleared to enable communication 

 to be maintained between the different parts of the district, a snow 

 plough being used for the pm'pose. A heron is reported to have 

 been found frozen to death in the neighbourhood of Forest Hill. 



While earthquakes have disturbed other lands, and the inha- 

 bitants of Northwich, in Cheshire, have found the ground giving 

 way beneath them, and the River Bradford, a tributary of the 

 Don, has been lost to the inhabitants of Alport, in Derbyshire, our 

 own usually quiet Blackheath has suffered some alarms. In the 

 beginning of November, 1880, a small irregular shaped hole, about 

 18 feet in circumference, appeared near the gravel pit lying to the 

 north of Eliot Place. The sides of this hole were perpendicular 

 on the north and south, but on the south-west and south-east the 

 ground retreated as if leading to some excavation or large cave. 

 An examination made at the time showed, however, that no 

 further opening could be traced. It was generally considered that 

 this hole was of the same nature as one which occurred in April, 

 1878, near the centre of the Heath, to the west of the spot where 



