236 Profefor WitttAWs's Account of ar 
‘With regard to the ftate of thé atmofphéré preceding this 
uncommon darknefs, it was univerfally dbferved for feveral days x 
before, that the air appeared to be full of fmoke and Vapour. 
The fun and the moon appeared remarkably red in their colour, 
ahd divefted of their brightnefs and lucid appearance : afd this 
Sb{curation increated as. they approached nearer to the horizon. 
This was obíerved to be the cafe in almoft all parts. of the New-. 
England ftates, for four or five days preceding the 19th of May. . 
The winds had be en. variable; but-chiefly from the S. W. and: 
N. E "The thermometer from. 40° to 55° "Pie-baromcter . 
rather high for this part of America,—from 29 inches 86, to 30 
inches 50: The weather had been fair and cool for the feafon. . 
As tothe flate of the atmofphere when the darknefs. came on, . 
it was obfervable, that the weight. or gravity of it was gradu. 
aliy decreafing the bigger part of the day.. This-may be infer- 
ted from the dbfervations that were made in this place by the: 
Rev. Profeffor Wigglefworth, and Mr. Gannett. At 125 they 
ound the mercury in the barometer ftood at 29 incheszo. At 
c 
Ninaa . > 
1230, the mercury had fallen the... part of an inch. A 
1* it was at 29 inches-67." At 3 it was at 29 inches 65. At 
8*-8* it was at 29 inches 64. I made a courfe of barometrical 
shes a | 
Loy 
north of 
little nercury in the 
barometer 2 i A | egan to ap- 
r again, and found 
then at29 inches 67. The dark- 
nefs 
