262 BOOK OF THE DAMNED 



enon was reported from Syria and Malta, as two very large bodies 

 "nearly joined." 



Kept. Brit. Assoc., 1860-77: 



That, at Cherbourg, France, Jan. 12, 1836, was seen a luminous 

 body, seemingly two-thirds the size of the moon. It seemed to 

 rotate on an axis. Central to it there seemed to be a dark cavity. 



For other accounts, all indefinite, but distortable into data of 

 wheel-like objects in the sky, see Nature, 22-617; London Times, 

 Oct. 15, 1859; Nature, 21-225; Monthly Weather Review, 1883-264. 



L'Astronomie, 1 894-1 57 : 



That, upon the morning of Dec. 20, 1893, an appearance in the 

 sky was seen by many persons in Virginia, North Carolina, and 

 South Carolina. A luminous body passed overhead, from west to 

 east, until at about 15 degrees in the eastern horizon, it appeared 

 to stand still for fifteen or twenty minutes. According to some 

 descriptions it was the size of a table. To some observers it looked 

 like an enormous wheel. The light was a brilliant white. Accept- 

 ably it was not an optical illusion the noise of its passage through 

 the air was heard. Having been stationary, or having seemed to 

 stand still fifteen or twenty minutes, it disappeared, or exploded. 

 No sound of explosion was heard. 



Vast wheel-like constructions. They're especially adapted to roll 

 through a gelatinous medium from planet to planet. Sometimes, 

 because of miscalculations, or because of stresses of various kinds, 

 they enter this earth's atmosphere. They're likely to explode. They 

 have to submerge in the sea. They stay in the sea a while, revolv- 

 ing with relative leisureliness, until relieved, and then emerge, some- 

 times close to vessels. Seamen tell of what they see: their reports 

 are interred in scientific morgues. I should say that the general 

 route of these constructions is along latitudes not far from the lati- 

 tudes of the Persian Gulf. 



Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 28-29: 



That, upon April 4, 1901, about 8:30, in the Persian Gulf, 

 Captain Hoseason, of the steamship KUwa, according to a paper 

 read before the Society by Captain Hoseason, was sailing in a sea 

 in which there was no phosphorescence "there being no phosphores- 

 cence in the water." 



I suppose I'll have to repeat that: 



"... there being no phosphorescence in the water." 



Vast shafts of light though the Captain uses the word "ripples" 

 suddenly appeared. Shaft followed shaft, upon the surface of 



