Description of a Halo or Corona. 



Art. III. — A Description of a Halo or Corona of great splendor, 

 observed at Greensburgh, Westmoreland County, Pa. ; by 

 ALrRED T. King, M. D. 



TO THE EDITORS. 



Gentlemen — If you consider the subjoined description of one 

 of those meteorological phenomena, usually denominated by phi- 

 losophers coronas or halos, which was observed in this town about 

 eleven o'clock, A. M. on the 28th of August last, and which ex- 

 cited considerable interest among the intelligent portion of the 

 community, and apprehension and alarm in the minds of the 

 uninformed, worthy of a place in your excellent Journal, it is 

 much at your service. 



This phenomenon consisted of from three to five circular belts 

 or zones of light, one of which emulated, in appearance, the splen- 

 dor and magnificence of the most gorgeous rainbow. The ar- 

 rangement of these rings was somewhat singular ; the first or 

 inner one, which had the sun in its center, was t?^uly brilliant, 

 exhibiting all the prismatic hues of the rainbow, the colors of 

 which were so dazzling that the unprotected eye could scarcely 

 rest upon it a moment. This, I presume, was occasioned by 

 the sun being near the meridian, and consequently many of his 

 rays would impinge upon the halo, without passing through the 

 mass of vapor, to the existence of which I attributed the forma- 



Vol. XL, No. 1.— Oct.-Dec. 1840. 4 



