NA TURE 



{Jan. 7, 1886 



their forms began to change in a wavy manner, and in a 

 short time vanished as in ether from that part of the sky. 

 The sun was now at a slight aUitude, and when I turned round 

 I saw to my astonishment similar clouds, though the colours 

 were less distinct, in the north-west, where a few minutes pre- 

 viously none were to be seen. These did not last long, though 

 during their short appearance their outlines were very distinct, 

 there at the time being a heavy haze of reddish gray, changing 

 to dusky carmine above the northern horizon. At this time a 

 west wind was blowing with considerable force, but these clouds 

 appeared to be high above the wind, as they were certainly not 

 influenced by it. In mid-air there seemed to be a counter 

 current, as light cirrus cloud-streaks drifted slowly across the 

 zenith from the east. About 4 p.m. the same phenomenon 

 occurred in the west and north-west, the clouds, if anything, 

 being more beautiful than in tlie morning. They remained for 

 a time after the sun had set. At 5 p.m. the thermometer 

 registered 12" of frost. I trust I have succeeded in a partial 

 way to convey some idea of sky effects so inexpressibly beautiful 

 as to baffle description. I was informed last night that the pre- 

 vious Monday afternoon, as a party of noblemen and gentlemen 

 were returning to Tynehead Station from a day's shooting on 

 the Humble Estate, in East Lothian, and while a terrific storm 

 of wind and sleet prevailed, there was a sudden rift, througli 

 which the party saw a number of clouds of a similar nature to 

 those I have attempted to describe. John Thomson 



Maxton, Wednesday Afternoon 



At 3 p.m. we have had a steady fall of snow for four hours. 



John Thomson 



Wick, December 30, 18S5 

 Sir, — Your correspondent " C. M." in to-day's paper exactly 

 describes the phenomenon as it was seen here. The cirrus 

 clouds were probably floating at a very high elevation in a stratum 

 of air much below the freezing-point, and their structure thus 

 having undergone some change, the sunlight became decomposed, 

 causing the prismatic display. This theory may or may not he 

 correct, but the end of the cirrus band farthest from the sun lost 

 the colours first, and the end nearest the sun was the last on 

 which a vestige remained after the sun had set. Nemo 



Sunderland, December 30, 1SS5 



Sir, — I have just read in to-day's .Sru/.twi?;/ the letters of your 

 correspondents in Fraserburgh and Edinburgli concerning the 

 atmospheric o- cloud phenomena of Monday, 28th. The ap- 

 pearance of the heavens here from 3.30 p.m. was most striking. 

 The sun set in a rich water-glow, and the sky in the west being 

 very free from obscuration, we could notice how the glow decji- 

 ened as it ascended, until fiom 20° to 50° it presented a dark 

 crimson or purple. Just above Venus— which was like a silver 

 ball — there were seen some cirro-stratus clouds — bright and 

 luminous— just like illuminations on a dark ground. They were 

 stationary, and retained their shape for a very longtime. At 

 their western extremities were seen all the prismatic colours, as 

 if they were encircled with rainbows. These colours were very 

 distinct for half an hour, and then gradually disappeared ; but 

 still the clouds remained, and were seen at 5.20 — almost in their 

 original position — as bright electric clouds. I have observed 

 the heavens for thirty years, but never saw so beautiful a cloud- 

 display. I think the explanation is that the various strata of 

 the atmosphere retain certain rays of light longer than usual 

 when the sun's light falls at the oblique angle it has in Decem- 

 ber. These clouds evidently rested in a part of the atmosphere 

 not affected by the disturbances nearer the earth. 



D. Patterson, M. A. 



On going out at 4.12 p.m. to-day, I saw several remarkable 

 clouds in the west part of the sky, somewhat similar to those 

 described by Prof. Piazzi Smyth and several other corre- 

 spondents in Nature, vol. xxxi. pp. 148, 192, 264, 315, 

 3381 360- These clouds were collected in three groups, about 

 south-west, west, and north-west respectively. Some of them 

 were streaked, and the streaks and longer axes of all the clouds 

 were directed approximately towards the spot \\here the sun 

 had recently set. At the time when I first saw them, only one 

 of these clouds showed prismatic colours, but I am informed by 

 a friend that a little earlier, about 4 p.m., this was the case with 



several. As the other two sets showed colours and changes 

 exhibited later on by those in the south-west, I propose to 

 describe the latter alone. 



At 4.12 this group consisted of two large clouds and several 

 smaller ones, just above the planet Venus, the centre of the 

 group being at an altitude of about 30". The uppermost cloud 

 was about 20° in length and 5° in breadth. Its longer axis was 

 directed towards, but slightly above, the point in the horizon where 

 the sun had just set, 'The west end of the cloud was rounded, 

 almost semicircular, and hazy near the edge. Then followed 

 two or three fringes, also nearly semicircular, showing rather bright 

 prismatic colours, the blue side of each fringe being towards the 

 sun. The coloured fringes occupied about a third of the cloud ; 

 the rest of it was bright, with a slightly greenish tinge, as were 

 also the other clouds of this group. The east end was drawn 

 out in strife parallel to the longer axis of the cloud. Soon after 

 my first seeing them, the prismatic colours began to fade, and 

 by 4.20 were no longer distinguishable, but the clouds them- 

 selves were still bright and noticeable. At 4.25 the cloud that 

 had the prismatic fringes became very faint and had now a 

 slight rose-coloured tinge ; the others had the same tinge of 

 colour, but remained bright. By this time the stria? at the east 

 end were drawn out in the direction of the length of the cloud, 

 but became gradually fainter, and by 4.27 had disappeared ; so 

 that the cloud was now reduced to about half its original length, 

 the remaining part having at the same time become broader, 

 brighter, and of a deeper rose-colour. This colour, however, 

 soon began to fade, and by 4.34 was nearly gone, though there 

 was no apparent diminution of brightness. At 4.41 they were 

 bright and of a grayish-white, almost steel-gray, colour, and con- 

 tinued so for some time. During all the time I watched them 

 (about three-quarters of an hour) this group as a whole was 

 nearly stationary, though the clouds themselves changed con- 

 siderably in form and slightly in their relative positions. The 

 sky was almost clear, but near the horizon there were some dark, 

 heavy clouds, and at one time (4.25) several of these, driven by 

 a strong wind, passed rapidly below the group above described, 

 partly covering the lowermost. On going out again at 6.20 to 

 watch them, I found that they had all disappeared. I may add 

 that yesterday evening, soon after sunset, the western sky was 

 covered with a rosy flush, reminding one slightly of the wonder- 

 ful sunsets of two years ago. CHARLES DAVISON 

 Sunderland, December 28, 1885 



Yesterday morning (December 29), from about 8.30 to 

 9 o'clock, a number of veiy brilliantly- coloured clouds were 

 observed here by myself and others. The weather was cold and 

 frosty, and the sky at the time was clear with the exception of a 

 thick haze round the horizon ; a few clouds were thinly dis- 

 tributed over the sky, and these were more or less coloured. 

 The clouds in the south-east had colours rivalling those of the 

 rainbow in intensity. The colours were also distributed in 

 bands, though not in the same order as those of the rainbow. 

 The clouds in the opposite quarter of the sky were smaller, and 

 though unusually bright as regards luminosity the colours were 

 paler than on the other side of the sky. Each cloud also had 

 one uniform tint, a pale green or blue or pink. The more 

 brilliant clouds while fading assumed an appearance similar to 

 these others, some of the bands broadening out, while others 

 disappeared. I saw a beautiful iridescent cloud here at the 

 same hour one morning last December. At that time the 

 phenomenon was generally observed throughout the country, as 

 is evident from the letters which appeared in Nature (vok xxxi. 

 pp. 148, 192, 264, &c. ). John Stevenson 



Broxburn, December 30, 1S85 



The Recent Star-Shower 



]\lR. Denning's letter of December 12 makes me see that 

 I did not put the point which was in my own mind with suffi- 

 cient clearness in my letters of December 7 and 8. 



It was not to coincidences of star-showers with displays of 

 aurorse as to whose true auroral nature there appeared to be 

 no question, that I wished to draw attention, but to the fact 

 that, among the instances to which I referred, of the coin- 

 cidence of such showers with atirora-like phenomena, there were 

 two occasions, and those two occurrences of the same shower, on 

 which there was a notable absence of any magnetic disturbances. 

 The coincidence of such disturbances with auroral displays is, I 



