54 METEOROLOGICAL 
oradually augmented in magnitude until it as- 
sumed the form and appearance of a phosphoric 
zone subtending at his eye an angle of about 60 
degrees, measured horizontally, and having the 
apparent height of a few feet; above this was a 
dark band, and then again another zone of light. 
These luminous zones of cloud were nearer the 
earth than the storm clouds, and their brilhancy 
lasted about a quarter of an hour. 
Beccaria assures us that the clouds over his 
observatory at Turin frequently shed in all direc- 
tions a strong reddish light, which was sometimes . 
so intense as to enable him to read ordinary print. 
This nocturnal luminosity was especially observed 
in winter, between successive falls of snow. 
When General Sabine and his crew were lying 
at anchor at Loch Scavig, in the Isle of Skye, he 
observed a cloud which constantly enveloped the 
summit of one of the naked and lofty mountains 
which surround that island. This cloud which 
had been formed by the vapour precipitated near 
the mountains after having been brought by the 
constant west winds from ‘the Atlantic, was self- 
luminous at night, not occasionally, but perma- 
nently. He saw frequently issue from it jets of 
light, and convinced himself that this phenomenon 
had nothing whatever to do with the Aurora 
Borealis. 
We may add to these an observation of Nichol- 
