g^ ON LUMINOUS PHENOMENA. 



and motionless on the floor, and rendered a young lady and 

 her servant insensible for a time, though these persons were 

 iuj different apartments of the house, and left considerable 

 marks of its violence on the house and furniture. It hap- 

 pened on the 17th of September, 17SO. The morning was 

 very stormy, with rain, thunder, and Hghtning; and just at 

 nine o'clock a horrid black cloud appeared, out of which 

 Mr. Adair saw several balls of fire drop into the sea succes- 

 sively, as he was approaching a one pair of stairs window ; 

 very soon after which, he was struck by a most violent flash 

 of lightning, the effects of which may be particularly seen 

 by consulting the original account. But what more espe- 

 cially applies to the present purpose is, that multitudes on 

 the seashore before the house saw the meteor dait in a right 

 line over their heads, and break against the front of the 

 house in different directions; and all agreed, that the fornv 

 and flame exactly resembled an immense sky rocket. 

 Distinction be- These facts show the near resemblance betveen lightning 

 nLrT-^ancf the ^"^ ^'"^ balls. It is probable however, that the electric mat- 

 aurora borealis. ter, when it passes violently through the lower regions of the 

 atmosphere, usually has the form of a spark ; that is to say, 

 it passes with an extreme angular velocity in some definite 

 direction. But the masses of luminous matter, which pass 

 along the superior and more rarified parts of the air, appear 

 either in the form of those flashes, which we produce by 

 passing electricity through a vacuum, or in the form of balls 

 of fire. In either case the phenomena are on a scale of 

 astonishing magnitude. 

 Shooting stars, Shooting stars, the aurora borealis, and fire balls, have 

 and fire balls ' '" general been found by the best observations to be greatly 

 are greatly ele- elevated in the atmosphere; and indeed, beyond the region 

 where the action of the sun's rays on the air occasions the 

 twilight. Mr. Brydone* frequently observed shooting stars 

 from the mountain St. Bernard, one of the high Alps, and 

 also saw several from the highest region of Mount Etna, 

 and they always appeared as high as when seen from the 

 lowest grounds. I find however one curious instance of lights 

 resembling both the aurora borealis and shooting stars, at a 

 much lower elevation. 



* Ph. Trans, vol. 63, p. 1G7. 



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