376 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [ANNO 1729. 



in the dark, without burning any thing. As to the appearance of this pheno- 

 menon in mountainous parts, they differ in nothing else but in size; these 

 latter being never observed any larger than the flame of an ordinary candle. 

 In general, these lights are great friends to brooks and rivers, being frequently 

 observed along their banks, perhapsbecause the air carries them thither more easily 

 than any where else. In all other particulars, as in their motion, the manner 

 of their appearance, their disappearing sometimes very suddenly, their light, 

 the height they rise to, and their not being affected either by rainy or cold 

 weather, they are the very same with the cularsi above described, or the large 

 Will with a Wisp, as observed in the plains. 



A young gentleman, a very accurate and skilful observer of natural appear- 

 ances, travelling sometime in March last, between 8 and 9 in the evening, in 

 a mountainous road, about JO miles south of Bologna, as he approached a 

 certain river, called Rioverde, he perceived a light, which shone very strongly 

 on some stones that lay on the banks. It seemed to be about 2 feet above the 

 stones, and not far from the water of the river: in figure and size it had the 

 appearance of a parallelopiped, somewhat above a Bolognese foot in length, 

 and about half a foot high, its longest side lying parallel to the horizon: its 

 light was very strong, insomuch that he could very plainly distinguish by it 

 part of a neighbouring hedge, and the water in the river. The gentleman's 

 curiosity tempted him to examine it a little nearer; in order to which, he ad- 

 vanced gently towards the place, but was surprised to find, that insensibly it 

 changed from a bright red to a yellowish, and then to a pale colour, in pro- 

 portion as he drew nearer, and that when he came to the place itself, it was 

 quite vanished. On this he stepped back, and not only saw it again, but 

 found that the farther he went from it, the stronger and brighter it grew; nor 

 could he, on narrowly viewing the place where this fiery appearance was, 

 perceive the least blackness, or smell, or any mark of an actual fire. The 

 same observation was confirmed by another gentleman, who frequently travels 

 that way, and who asserted, that he had seen the very same light 5 or 6 different 

 times, in Spring and Autumn, and that he had always observed it in the very 

 same shape and the same place; which seems very difficult to be accounted for. 

 He said further, that once he took particular notice of its coming out of a 

 neighbouring place, and then settling itself into the figure above described. 



