March g, 1882] 
caused by the northerly winds that prevailed during the above- 
mentioned period, and which drove the water off the coast. Just 
now the lowering of the atmospheric pressure, that had been as 
high as 778 millimetres, gave a prevalence to southerly winds, 
and the sea reached again its former level. 
L. LuiccG1, 
Resident Engineer at the Pier Works, Genoa, Italy 
February 28 
A Strange Phenomenon 
RELATIVE to the letter of Mr. James Moir, under the above 
title, which appeared recently in NaTurgE, I bey to observe that 
in the Highlands of Perthshire, some forty years ago, two men 
found themselves enveloped in flames, somewhat in the same 
style as Mr. Moir was on February 18 last. One Mr. John 
Stewart, who, for many years, drove the Mail gig between 
~ Dunkeld and Aberfeldy, told me that on a certain dark night, 
he and another man, climbing a rocky, heathery height in 
Rannock, were all at once set on flames by some mysterious 
fire, which appeared to proceed from the heather, which they 
were traversing, and the more they tried to rub the flames off 
the more tenaciously they seemed to adhere, and the more 
the fire increased in brightness and magnitude. Moreover, 
the long heather agitated by their feet, emitted streais of 
burning vapour, and for the space of a few minutes they were 
in the greatest consternation. They believed that they barely 
escaped a living cremation. Of course their liberal share of 
native superstition, along with the weird gloom of the night in 
the weird wilderness remote from human habitation, rendered 
their position the more alarming. Mr. Stewart did not mention 
whether the weather was stormy or not ; but without doubt the 
object of their fear was St. Elmo’s Fire. The ignis fatuus has 
heen frequently seen in these Highland districts hovering over 
marshes, rivers, and churchyards, which was believed by the 
superstitious to be the ghosts of the dead. When the ignis 
fatuus was seen flickering over the graveyard, it was a sign— 
with them—that some one was to be buried there soon, and 
when seen floating over a river, it was a sign that some one was 
to be drowned there that night or soon after, the floating, wan- 
dering lights being their ghosts. Drainage, in this respect, has 
effected many changes. DONALD CAMERON 
45, Calder Street, Govanhill, Glasgow, March 6 
Mr. JAMEs Moir, in last week’s NATURE (p. 410), mentions 
a probable peculiar manifestation of St. Elmo’s Fire, and asks 
if any one can give instances of a similar occurrence. About 
twenty years ago I was returning, during the evening, to my 
house from Great Yarmouth, a distance of three miles, and took 
the road of the Denes, intending to cross by the lower ferry. 
Before reaching it a dark cloud coming from the south-east, off 
the sea, suddealy surprised me, and drenched me with rain. I 
jumped into the boat, and when the boatman had pushed off, I 
remarked that every drop of rain hanging from my hair, beard, 
and clothes was luminous with white light, well seen, as it was 
very dark at the time. I found the same appearance had been 
observed by several pilots exposed tothe same shower. I always 
attributed the occurrence to a species of St. Elmo’s fire. It was 
mentioned at the time by a friend of mine at a scientific meeting 
in London, and thought curious. Wi. dd. Gy B: 
Cheltenham, March 7 
Parhelia 
OF the parhelia of January 27 seen by M. Albert Riggerbach 
(NaturRE, vol. xxv. p. 364) I was a spectator, and noted my 
observations at once. I was walking near Pavia when I observed 
the phenomenon about 3.45. A mock sun (one only) was 
in the same altitude with the sun on the horizon; M. Riggen- 
bach’s faévzt ciyrus obviously corresponds to the Alamenti nebbiosi 
in my note; they were as I well remember, with the mock sun 
in the eastern part of the sky, while in the opposite region some 
blackish czmulé approached slowly. FRANCIS PORRO 
Pavia, Lombardy, February 27 
Red Flints in the Chalk 
ARE red flints common in the Chalk? A portion of our Col- 
ege farm lies on a gentle slope on the Upper Chalk, which rises 
westward from the banks of the Hampshire Avon. On the 
NATURE 
437 
higher parts of this slope black flints are excessively abundant, 
so much so that after sheep have been folded on the land, the 
fields present the appearance of a newly macadamised road, and 
the flints are picked up and. put into heaps until an opportunity 
offers to use them for road-metal ; in the course of a year they 
“grow” again as thickly as before. But one field on a ridge 
near the foot of the slope is remarkable for the number of red 
flints it contains; on the Gusty soil they look just like bits of 
broken earthenware, and might at first fail to attract attention. 
Their size is much less than the average size of the black flints ; 
some are rounded and some angular, others almost flake like. 
As to the frequency of their occurrence, I found I was able to 
pick up at least one at every step I took. W. FREAM 
College of Agriculture, near Downton, Salisbury, 
February 28 
THE SALMON DISEASE* 
Fok some years an epidemic disease, followed by a 
very large number of deaths, has been observed to 
prevail among the salmon of certain Scottish and British 
rivers, from the Tay, on the north, as far as the Conway 
on the south. 
The first obvious symptom of the malady is the appear- 
ance of one or more whitish patches upon the skin of 
parts of the body which are not covered with scales, such 
as the top and sides of the head, the adipose fin, and the 
soft skin at the bases of the other fins. 
Such a patch, when it first attracts attention, may be as 
big as a sixpence. It is nearly circular, with a well- 
defined margin and a somewhat raised softer centre, 
from which faint ridges radiate towards the circumfer- 
ence. It is important to observe that a single small patch 
of this kind may be seen on the skin of a fish which, in 
all other respects, is perfectly healthy, and when there is 
no indication that the skin has ever been bruised or 
abraded in the place occupied by the patch. The patch, 
once formed, rapidly increases in size, and becomes con- 
fluent with any other patches which may have appeared 
in its neighbourhood. The marginal area, as it extends 
over the adjacent healthy skin, retains its character ; but 
the central part undergoes an important change. It takes 
on the consistency of wet paper, and can be lifted up in 
soft flakes, as if it were a slough, from the surface of the 
derma or true skin, which it covers. In fact, it is obvious 
that this papyraceous substance has taken the place of 
the epidermis, so that the sensitive and vascular true skin 
is deprived of its natural protection. As the patch 
spreads, the true skin beneath the central papyraceous 
slough ulcerates and an open bleeding sore is formed, 
which may extend down to the bone, while it passes out- 
wards into burrowing sinuses. 
When the disease has reached this stage it obviously 
causes great irritation. The fish dash about and rub 
themselves against stones, and thus in all probability 
aggravate the evils under which they suffer. One vast 
open sore may cover the top of the head from the snout 
to the nape, and may extend over the gill covers. The 
edges of the fins become ragged; and, sometimes, the 
skin which invests them is so completely frayed away that 
the fin-rays stand out separately. 
Although the affection of the skin appears, usually, if 
not invariably, to commence in the scaleless parts of the 
body, it does not stop there, but gradually spreads over 
the whole of the back and sides of the fish, though I have 
not yet seen a specimen in which it covered the whole 
ventral surface. The disease extends into the mouth, 
especially affecting the delicate valvular membrane 
attached to the inner sides of the upper and the lower 
jaws. It is said to attack the gills, but there has been no 
sign of it on these organs in any fish which I have had 
the opportunity of examining. 
Fish which succumb to the disease become weak and 
t A Contribution to the Pathology of the Epidemic known as the ‘‘ Salmon 
Disease.’’? Paper read at the Royal Society, March 2, by Prof. T. H. 
Sea De Res! 
