470 Mr. C. Tomlinson on the Ignis Fatuus. 



Many years ago, Major Blesson, of Berlin, made a number 

 of experiments in a valley in the Forest of Grubitz, in the 

 Newmarck, where the meteor was often seen. The valley 

 cuts deeply into compact loam, and is marshy at its lower 

 part. The water of the marsh contains iron, and is covered 

 with a shining crust. During the day, bubbles of gas were 

 seen rising from it, and at night bluish-purple flames were 

 observed playing over the surface. On visiting the spot by 

 night, the flames retired as the Major advanced, the motion 

 of the air driving the burning gas before him. On standing 

 still, the flames returned, and he tried to light a piece of paper 

 at them ; but the current of air produced by his breath kept 

 the flames at too great a distance. On turning aAvay his 

 head, and screening his breath, he set fire to a strip of paper. 

 He also succeeded in putting out the flame by driving it 

 before him to a part of the ground where no gas was pro- 

 duced ; then, applying a flame to the place whence the gas 

 bubbles issued, a kind of explosion was heard over eight or 

 nine square feet of the marsh ; a red light was seen, which 

 faded to a blue flame about three feet high, and this continued 

 to burn with an unsteady motion. As the morning dawned 

 the flames became pale, and seemed to approach nearer and 

 nearer to the earth, until at last they faded from sight. The 

 same observer also made experiments in other places. At 

 Malapane, in Upper Silesia, he passed several nights in a 

 forest where the meteor was to be seen. He succeeded in 

 extinguishing and inflaming the gas, but was not able to set 

 fire to thin strips of paper or shavings of wood by its means. 

 In the Komski Forest, in Poland, the flame appeared of a 

 darker hue than usual, and on attempting to ignite paper and 

 wood they became covered with a viscous kind of moisture, 

 thus reminding one of Musschenbroek's observation when an 

 ignis fatuus was " catched." On another occasion he suc- 

 ceeded in lighting up the ignis fatuus by standing at a distance 

 and throwing fire-works into the marshy ground. He visited 

 b}^ night the summit of the Porta Westphalia, near Minden ; 

 the meteor was not visible, but on firing off a rocket a number 

 of small red flames were observed below, which soon went out, 

 but appeared again on firing another rocket*. 



In conclusion, it seems scarcely necessary to remark that 

 writers in Cyclopaedias and Popular Guides to Science have 

 abundant sources of reliable information if they will only 



* I have mislaid the reference to Major Blesson's experiments, but the 

 account given above is from a book on Natural Phenomena, written by 

 me for the Christian Knowledge Society, and published in a second 

 edition in 1858. 



