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 XXXVIII. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles, 



ATMOSPHJiRIC PH^EXOMEKON. 



V-/N Sunday night the 11th of September, a luminous arch ex- 

 tending from the \^•estern to the eastern horizon was visible to 

 the inhabitants of the greater part of Britain and Ireland. This 

 phsenomenon, interesting from tlie rarity of its occurence, was, 

 in tlie present instance, rendered still more so from being in op- 

 position to the received notions of the causes which produce it, 

 and the season of its appearance. It has been supposed that 

 they appear only at the full of the moon, and are occasioned 

 hy the refraction of her rays in drops of rain. Now the bow in 

 fjuestion appeared four hours befora tlie rising of the moon, 

 v.-hich, instead of being at its full, was 26 days old, and there 

 was no rain at the time, the evening being unconnnonly serene, 

 the sky unclouded, and the air rather dry and frostv than humid ; 

 the thermometer at the time standing at 50, and the barometer 

 rather above 30. The stars during the continuance of the bow 

 were particularly brilliant, but some time after its extinction 

 they became dull. Our informant first observed this phjenome- 

 non at 20 minutes past eight. It was a strongly merked and 

 rather luminous band, less in its arc than the Iris Solaris, and 

 without any variety of colour ; it was at that time some degrees 

 above Orion's dagger, Avhich appeared to be nearly the centre of 

 the arc ; at 40 minutes past 8 the north-west limb was fainter 

 than the other, and the whole appeared to decline ; at S. 50. it 

 became broader, and covered the first star in the dagger ; at 9 it 

 extended to the middle star, contracting and fading at its ex- 

 tremities ; at 5 minutes past 9 it was barely discernible; and at 

 10 minutes past 9 was totallv dissipated ; large light patches 

 Avere, however, seen till nearly 12 o'clock, about, but more par- 

 ticularly above, the space Vi-hich the bow had occupied. A smart 

 frost took ])lace during the night; the tliermomcter at 12 had 

 fallen to 47. — Although our informant, at the time of viewing 

 this bow, could not distinguish any clouds or mist, yet, on his 

 approaching the citv from the southward, between se\en and 

 eight o'clock in the evening, he observed a dun- coloured and 

 rather den5e vapour, suspended over the town, rising in the south 

 to a considerable height, and, as he supposed, formed by exha- 

 lations from the city. Whether this vapour had dissipated at the 

 time the bow ap])eared, or, if not, whether the vcsiculae of 

 which it was com];osed, and which were so small as not to ob- 

 scure or even dim the brillii.ncy of the stars, were sufficient to 

 refract the rays of light passing into them, lie professes himself 



incompetent 



