63 
at luminary is near = be horizon, and are cal- 
seamen, shrouds. an d backstays, from. their resem- 
to 5 oe Spratlessaee of <n Th 
ie, they of ime apo sof pratt circles. When 
the sun is in, or a little below the Orson, they are often seen 
to converge to a point diametrically opposite to the sun, and 
have no relation to the sun’s equator. The beams are seldom 
seen far from the vanishing point. I have seen them almost 
every day, in certain places, within the se They are 
however often very faint, and can be seen practi 
eye, and as in looking at a celestial nel or the tail of a 
comet, are best seen with the eyes partly closed, or by jooks 
ing a little to one side of the object. ‘These beams are pro- 
duced in the same manner as those in a room where there is 
when transparent and smooth, and the sun shining at least 
60° or 70° above the horizon. Then by looking over a ves- 
sere side, opposite to the sun, the spectator will see around the 
ow of his own head, only a kind of corona.* The same 
plmeneubors may likewise be seen in a stratum of fog when 
the sun and observer are in certain positions, as when seen 
*This has been called the Apotheosis of travellers. (V. Malte Brun.) The 
appé earance i by rain, fog, or spray, on the same principles as the 
A line drawn from the centre of the sun passi 
the: sot of the spectator Wit has his back to the sun, oat eg the vasa 
of the bow. Consequently, if the spectator be elevated above th izon 
whem on ahigh mountain, he may see the entire bow encircling the head of | his 
shado ow. 
Let A be a spectator stand- 
ing on the brow of a high 
’ 7 ligh henemecge ibaa siaier th 
What ir oui aie a nbs phenomena included under the 
multiform appearances of halos. e has an a i on “ Zodiacal light,” 
but limits it to a peculiar appearan tented ae: ut the vernal equi- . 
nox.— La a System of the va the World. 
