PHOSPHORESCENCE. 59 
The following is however that of General Sabine 
himself, which he has kindly given me in a let- 
ter :—‘“‘ Before the ship entered into the Auroral 
light, the Aurora as seen from the ship appeared 
as an arch, formed partly of an uniform yellowish 
light, and partly of vertical or nearly vertical 
streamers proceeding out of the luminous arch 
upwards. The centre of the arch was not far dis- 
tant from the zenith, and the legs descended to- 
wards east and west pots. We were opposite to 
one of the legs, and sailing towards it till we en- 
tered it. We were sensible of having entered it, 
by no longer seeing it as a distant appearance, 
and by the moment of our entrance into it bemg 
marked by a generally diffused hght, enabling 
those on deck to see distinctly men on the fore- 
topsail yard, who we could not see previously.” 
The ship was sailing southward, and entered the 
western leg of the luminous arch. 
At the meeting of the Literary and Philosophical 
Society of Manchester on January 31, 1861, Mr. 
Baxendell stated that many of the fogs observed 
during that winter were luminous. Mr. Crosse 
and other observers have found fogs to be highly 
electrical. 
I will place here a passage from a Brussels cor- 
respondent, who writes in 1860 :— 
“On looking out of my bedroom window at two 
o’clock on the morning of the 25th January, I 
