222 OP ELECTRICITY. CHAP. 7. f. 



in proof of the number of blue rays which 

 entered into the composition of the light of the 

 great Meteor of Aug. 18, 1783, that the Moon 

 appeared at Brussels quite red, during the 

 Meteor's passage, from the contrast of light.* I 

 have noticed this reddish appearance of the Moon 

 during the combustion of many substances 

 which burn blue, in pyrotechnical exhibitions. 

 In the tail, and in the separated scintillations 

 of the aforesaid great Meteor prismatic colours 

 were observed very variously, by persons in 

 different places. 



These appearances seem certainly to favour 

 the hypothesis of M. De Luc, as I have before 

 observed, rather than any mode of explaining 

 them on the known laws of Electricity .f 



* Dr. B. refers to a letter of Abbe Mann to Sir Joseph 

 Banks. 



t Some have considered Shooting Stars as bodies projected 

 from the Moon, and ignited in their course. In this case, the 

 peculiarities of their light, at diiferent times, might be caused 

 either by the quality of the air in which they burned, or by 

 the quality of the ignited body. Meteorolites too have been 

 considered as similarly projected from the Moon, and have 

 thence received the appellation of Lunar Stones. And this 

 opinion has gained support by their analysis, which does not 

 correspond with that of any known terrestrial compound. 

 Biot, in his Astronomic Physique, and La Place, in his .S'y.v. 



