304 Description of a splendid Meteor. 
It was by some circumstances connected with this phenomenon 
that my attention was attracted, much more than by the bril- 
liant light whieh it diffused; a portion of the sky towards the 
north-west appeared at fir st very dark, as if covered by a heavy 
éeloud. When I took notice of it, € rose about 15 degrees 
above the horizon, and appeared as if it was a section of an 
arch of considerable extent. It gradually increased, preserv- 
ing the same shape, until it attammed an elevation of about 45 
degrees, and covered nearly one half of the horizon. I should 
have supposed it to have been a very dense cloud, had the 
stars not been visible through it. That beautiful star Capella 
appeared to sparkle through it with increased brilliancy. The 
circumference of this immense body of darkness was covered 
all round with a strong yellowish light, resembing the morn- 
ing’s dawn when the sun approaches the horizon: this circle 
of light was in depth about five degrees, in some parts it was 
broader, in others narrower. 
The wind was at south. The sky was sprinkled with heavy 
unconnected masses of clouds, of the kind called cumulus: 
by the direction of the wind, they approached towards the 
north. According as each cloud arrived at-the dark space 
above described, it rapidly diminished in size, until it was en- 
tirely dissipated, It appeared to me as if the gradual increase 
of size of the dark space was owing to the quantity of heavy 
clouds which were decomposed when they came into apparent 
contact with it. 
When the dark space had attained its greatest size, I ob- 
served a gleam of light shooting across it, in two or three 
places, close to the horizon, and immediately the upper part 
of it all round began to move. The brilliant circumference 
was tinctured in many places with prismatic colours, and ap- 
peared to be composed of bundles of radii emanating from 
acentre. Flashes of light the most vivid darted from every 
part of this vast circle, reaching to the zenith; the whole mass 
was in mation, and presented a more sublime and splendid ap- 
pearance than can well be imagined. 
By degrees the dark space diminished; the coruscations be- 
came fewer and less brilliant, and the sky resumed the same 
appearance as it had at first: but it did not long continue so— 
the clouds again moved in the same directioi—the phzeno- 
mena were repeated, and the same grand spectacle was again 
exhibited. As I ceased to observe these appearances at one 
o’clock, I cannot tell haw long they might have continued. 
The aurora borealis has not, I believe, been observed for 
some years in these latitudes. 7 remember having seen it, ata 
time when I was not accustomed to pay much attention to such 
matters. 
