Wood Pile aglow with Phosphorescence 313 



apparent nucleus and are different from the great meteors 

 which are sometimes seen. 



I have myself been often much interested in the re- 

 markable difference of the degree of darkness when there 

 has been no moon. There are nights when, although the 

 sky be clear of visible cloud and the stars are shining, it 

 is, in familiar phrase, c as black as pitch.' The sky itself 

 is black between the stars, and they do not seem to give 

 the slightest illumination. On the other hand, there are 

 nights without a moon when it is (though winter time) 

 quite light. Hedges and trees are plainly visible; the 

 road is light, and anything approaching can be seen at 

 some distance, and this occasionally happens though the 

 sky be partly clouded. So that the character of the night 

 does not seem to depend entirely upon the moon or stars. 

 The shepherds on the hills say that now and then there 

 comes an intense blackness at night which frightens the 

 sheep and makes them leap the hurdles. 



When logs of timber are split for firewood they are 

 commonly stacked ' four square,' and occasionally such a 

 stack, four or five feet high, may be seen all aglow with 

 phosphorescence. Each individual split piece of wood is 

 distinctly visible a pale faintly yellow light seems to be 

 emitted from its surface. At the same time the ends of 

 the faggot sticks projecting from the adjacent stack of 

 faggots also glow as if touched with fire. So vivid is the 

 light that at the first glance it is quite startling as if the 

 whole collection of wood were just on the point of bursting 

 into flame. In passing old hollow trees sometimes they 

 appear illuminated from within : the light proceeds from 

 the decaying * touchwood.' Old willow trees are some- 

 times streaked with such light from the top to the foot of 

 the trunk. As this phosphorescence is only occasional, 



Y 



