ezekiel's vision of the divine glory. 



169 



in which the description is introduced, " as I was among the 

 captives by the river Chebar. ... I looked, and, behold, a 

 stormy wind came out of the north," and, later on, by the 

 expression, " one wheel upon the earth . . . for each of the 

 four faces thereof," which appears to imply that Ezekiel was 

 actually looking at the thing he describes, and that it was as 

 real a thing as the earth on which he was standing — in fact, 

 that the Vision was in some sense based upon a natural object. 

 If there be any element of truth in the suggestion, such a 

 natural object could only be some kind of celestial phenomenon, 

 and the question arises whether there is any known phenomenon 

 presenting such a complication of effects as that pictured by 

 Ezekiel ? ' 



The phenomenon of the Parhelia is rarely seen in this 

 country because of the peculiar climatic conditions necessary 

 for its occurrence. The atmosphere has to be charged with 

 myriads of minute crystals of ice ; being very light, these float 

 in the air, and as tlie sun shines through them their intricate 

 shapes reflect and refract its light, producing a complexity of 

 coloured rings and bands of magnificent proportions and of 

 unsurpassed beauty and symmetry. 



Owing to its great extent, and to the fact that the conditions 

 necessary for its appearance are influenced by very slight 

 changes in the atmospheric conditions, the phenomenon is 

 seldom seen in its entirety, and diflerent observers may see 

 different parts of it. I myself had the rare opportunity, some 

 few years ago, of seeing a remarkably complete display of this 

 phenomenon, and will attempt to describe what I then saw 

 with the assistance of a painting executed by a well-known 

 artist from descriptions given him by myself. 



Looking west shortly before sunset, the sun appaered as a 

 crimson disc behind grey clouds. It was encircled by two 

 halos of immense proportions, the outer halo being considerably 

 greater than a rainbow at its highest possible elevation. The 

 colouring of these halos was that of a rich amethyst purple, and 

 at the extreme right and left of each were masses of brilliant 

 light tinged with yellow ; these are the Parhelia, or mock suns, 

 from which the whole phenomenon derives its name. Bands of 

 light passed through these Parhelia in a horizontal and vertical 

 direction, the former being portions of a circle, seldom seen 

 entire, called the Parlielic Circle, and the latter being parts of 

 great circles whose appearance depends upon the slow oscillating 

 movement of the ice crystals as they sway in the air, the amount 

 of their upward and downward extent varying with the move- 



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