${t Exam'mafion of the Red coloured Wafer 



phaciiomeuoii observed iu the water of a lake near the vi?-» 

 latjc of Lvibolin, in the department of Poren in Soutl? 

 Prussia. Tiie most remarkable particulars of which were 

 as follows : 



'i'hc \\ ater of f!\is lake had appeared for some time to be 

 Covered with red spots, like cfrcrps ol' lylood : iu other places 

 of cons-iderable extent it was of a violet red colour; in 

 others of a grass green colour, and large masses of a red 

 matter floated on the surface of it. When the lake rn 

 consequence of the severe cold became frozen, the ice for 

 three lines in thickness was of the same red, blue, and 

 green colour which the water had exhibited. The lower 

 part of the ice, however, was uncoloured : a screen and red 

 matter inclining to blue was found below the ice to the 

 thickness of a quarter of a yard. 



A manuscript account of the same phaenomenon gives 

 th€ following account :— About the middle of December 

 the ftshemien, on breaking up the ice in order to fish, ob- 

 served that not only the ice but trlso the water of the lake 

 was coloured red, blue, and green, in two places. The 

 lake is about a quarter of a mile in length, four hundred 

 paces iu breadth, and is completely surrounded by moun- 

 tains. 



A wood stands close to the margin of the lake on one 

 side, and on the other lies the village of Lubotin with its 

 surrounding district: an arm of the lake, about a hundred 

 feet in length and a few paces iii breadth, extends to the 

 village. \\\ this arm, and for a certain extent on both 

 banlis of the lake, the waier was colouZ-ed to h.alf an ell in 

 depth ; but under this coloured stratum the water was in its 

 usual state. The case was the same in a part at the ex- 

 tremity of the lake, about fifty feet in length and twelve or 

 thirteen feet in breadth. The water in the remaining part 

 of the lake was colourless. The ice which covered these 

 places was marbled with green, blue, and red spots, of 

 from one to two feet in length. The lower part of the ice, 

 like the water below it, had no unusual colour. 



Both these accounts coincide in regard to the principal 

 points of the pluenomcnon; the small deviations arise no 



month of Marcli, '.vhen it ap;>eared to be gcctn. In the latter state the 

 w.tter roiild tx: us d tor paiiftuitT.' Tiil' red water, after it had stood for 

 some time, ilepobited a red insipid maiter, which, when viewed by the 

 microscope, seemed to be coiipofed of th.rtMds intcrv.'uvcn with ea. h 

 D'her. Mr. Achird conchidtd, fioTi the few experiments he rn?de witli 

 it, that the colouiing matter was a -egctaMe subst-tnce. See his Cly- 

 miicb Phjsis'hc- Scbiifie?!, BciJia 1780, p. ^51 — 251. 



■ 5 doubt 



