'^?^ 



VOL. XXIX.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 215 



quick and undulating motion to a considerable height, vanished in a little time, 

 while others, though at uncertain intervals, supplied their place. But at the 

 same time, through all the rest of the northern horizon, viz. from the north 

 west to the true east, there did not appear any sign of light to arise from, or 

 join to, the horizon; but on the contrary, what appeared to be an exceedingly 

 black and dismal cloud seemed to hang over all that part of it. Yet it was no 

 cloud, but only the serene sky more than ordinary pure and limpid, so that the 

 bright stars shone clearly in it, and particularly Cauda Cygni then very low in 

 the north; the great blackness manifestly proceeding from the neighbourhood 

 of the light which was collected above it. For the light had now put on a 

 form quite different from all that we have hitherto described, and had fashioned 

 itself into the shape of two laminae or streaks, lying in a position parallel to the 

 horizon, whose edges were but ill terminated. They extended themselves from 

 the N. by E. to the north east, and were each about a degree broad ; the under- 

 most about 8 or 9 degrees high, and the other about 4 or 5 degrees over it; 

 these kept their places for a long time, and made the sky so light, that I believe 

 a man might easily have read an ordinary print by it. 



While we stood astonished at this surprising sight, and expecting what was 

 further to come, the northern end of the upper lamina by degrees bent down- 

 wards, and at length closed with the end of the other that was under it, so as 

 to shut up on the north side an intermediate space, which still continued open 

 to the east. Not long after this, in the said included space, we saw a great 

 number of small columns or whitish streaks to appear suddenly, erect to the 

 horizon, and reaching from the one lamina to the other; which instantly disap- 

 pearing were too quick for the eye, so that we could not judge whether they 

 arose from the under or fell from the upper, but by their sudden alterations 

 they made such an appearance as might well be taken to resemble the conflicts 

 of men in battle. 



And much about the same time, to increase our wonder, there began on a 

 sudden to appear, low under the pole and very near due north, three or four 

 lucid areas like clouds, discovering themselves, in the pure but very black sky, 

 by their yellowish .light. These, as they broke out at once, so after they had 

 continued a few minutes, disappeared as quick as if a curtain had been drawn 

 over them. They were of no determined figure, but both in shape and size 

 might properly be compared to small clouds illuminated by the full moon, but 

 brighter. 



Not long after this, from above the aforesaid two laminae, there arose a very 

 great pyramidal figure, like a spear, sharp at the top, whose sides were inclined 

 10 each other with an angle of about 4 or 5 degrees, and which seemed to reach 



