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in a direct line, a little beyond and withal below Orion's 

 Belt, then in the south-west. In its way, it turned taper- 

 ing upward, and at last spherical, near as big as the full 

 inoon. It was whitish, with an eye of blue as bright as 

 the sun in a clear day. It seemed in half a minute to 

 move twenty degrees, and to go out as much above the 

 horizon. There remained after it, for more than a 

 minute, a track of reddish colour, such as that of red 

 hot iron ; and sparks seemed to issue from it such as 

 come from red hot iron, beaten upon an anvil. 



Within* doors the candles'gave no light; and without, 

 not only the stars disappeared, but the moon, nine days 

 old, though the sky was clear, and she was then near the 

 meridian ; so that for some seconds we had perfect day. 

 Its height was seventy-three miles and a half. Hence it 

 might be seen in ail places, which were not distant from 

 it more than two hundred and twenty leagues. Accord- 

 ingly, it was seen at the same instant over Spain, France, 

 Great Britain, Ireland, Holland, and the hither parts of 

 Germany. 



Another appearance which resembles lightning is the 

 Aurora Borealis, commonly called northern lights. 

 This is usually of a reddish colour, inclining to yellow, 

 and sends, out coruscations of bright light, which seem 

 to rise from the horizon in a pyramidical form, and 

 shoot with great velocity into the zenith. It appears 

 frequently in the form of an arch, rises far above the 

 regions of the clouds, yet never appears near the equator, 

 but always nearer the poles. 



8. Vapours of the same kind, that give rise to light- 

 nings in the air, occasion damps in the earth. The 

 damps usual in mines are of four sorts. The approach 

 of the first and most common is known by the flame of 

 the candle lessening till it goes out : as also by the men's 

 difficulty of breathing. Those who escape swooning 

 are not much hurt on this : but those who swoon uvyay 

 are commonly on their recovery seized with strong 

 convulsions The second is the peasbloom damp, so 



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