On Luminous appearances in the Atmosphere. 341 
Our coal yields 64. 5 carbon, 33, bitumen, 2. 5 earth and 
oxid of iron. These proportions vary. a: littlethe best 
coal for domestic use is considered to be that which has the 
most bitumen with the least earth. : sat 
ether the immense increase in the consumption of 
coal, and the vast volume of smoke that envelopes the town, 
together with the floating particles of soot that are con- 
stantly inhaled, may not have expelled the disease on the 
principle of burnt sponge; is a question I leave for those 
who are professionally qualified to answer. ’ i 
My object is not to offer any speculations on this matter, 
but merely to correct the case stated for argument, from 
the few facts within my own observation: [prefer your 
Journal for that purpose ; as the subject comes fairly within 
the department of general science ; if the phenomenon of 
Goitre is attributable to causes existing in the geological fea- 
tures of particular districts.—Very respectfully Six, 
Your humble serv’t. 
W. H. DENNY. 
Art. XIX.—On Luminous appearances in the Atmosphere; 
by J. A. Auten, A. M. Lecturer on Chemistry in Mid- 
diebury College. 
(Communicated for the American Jornal of Science.) 
On the evening of the 18th of January 1817, during a 
rapid fall of moist snow, attended with repeated claps o 
thunder ; lights or luminous appearances were seen in the 
atmosphere in many places on the Green Mountains.— 
The lights were observed by different persons in the towns 
of Andover, Jamaica, Wardsborough, Dover, Somerset, 
Stratton and New Fane. 
In all these places the lights were described as having the 
same appearance. They were observed on the tops of 
bushes, fences, houses &c. Some persons represent 
them as appearing like the blaze of candles, but all agreed 
that they were luminous spaces which appeared to rest on 
pointed or elevated substances—In some instances, persons 
who were travelling, suddenly observed a light surrounding 
their heads; in others they were completely enveloped in a 
- light but little less than the ordinary light of the sun—Several 
persons found when they elevated their hands, that the light 
18 
