VOL. LIV.J PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 157 



from 47° 25' to 48° o'. He could make no use of Jupiter's satellites in finding 

 the longitude, as they were not risen high enough to be observed above an hour 

 before day-light came on. There were but two of their eclipses that could have 

 been visible there while he was on the island; and though he watched for both of 

 them, he was disappointed of both by unfavourable weather. Neither was he 

 fortunate enough to get so much as one occultation of a fixed star by the moon. 



The longitude of St. John's is variously set down by different authors, though 

 none mention the observations by which it was determined. According to Sir 

 Jonas Moore, it is 42*" 50'" west from Greenwich; and as his authority may be 

 as good as any, Mr. W. keeps to this longitude till it can be ascertained by fur- 

 ther observations. 



Mr. W. viewed the sun with great attention in the reflector, both on the 5th 

 and 6th of June, in hopes to find a satellite of Venus; but in vain. There were 

 several spots then on the sun ; but none that he saw could be a satellite. The 

 variation of the needle there he found 19° w. 



Remark. — Mr. Short has computed the parallaxes at the egress for this ob- 

 servation at St. John's, and by comparing this observation with that at the Cape 

 of Good Hope (on the above longitude and latitude of St. John's as set down by 

 Mr. Winthrop) he finds the parallax of the sun, thence resulting, =8'''.25. 



LJ. On the Effects of Lightning on Three Ships in the East Indies. By Mr. 



Robert Feicht. p. 284. 



August the 1st, 1750. Lat. 1" 56' n. Malacca bearing about n.e. After some 

 clear serene weather, a thunder cloud arose, and soon increased very fast. The 

 whole heavens were covered with it, and the flashes of lightning happened at 

 times on different sides of the ship, which had all the sails furled before it came 

 upon her. The wind, which reached the ship before the thunder, brought with 

 it a violent and heavy rain, which sufficiently soaked the ship and every thing 

 about her. The ship was all this time, which was in about half an hour after 

 its first appearance above the western horizon, in the midst of repeated flashes of 

 lightning, which were just upon the ship by her trembling and shaking on every 

 explosion, and the flash and clap coming in the same instant, the officers and 

 people were apprehensive of damage to the mast. 



2^ A.M. At this time a clap burst, as was judged by the report, about mid- 

 way between the head of the mast and the body of the ship, or it might be higher, 

 and in descending might cause that appearance, and just over it. This made 

 the ship tremble and shake as if she was going to burst in pieces, and great pieces 

 and splinters of the mast fell on diflferent places of the ship ; but it was so very 

 dark, we could not see from which of the masts they were forced. Immediately 

 after this 1st came a 2d, which burst just above, and on the quarter deck of the 



