548 Proceedings of the Royal Society 
division of Queen Street. I think it was at eleven, but the friend in 
whose company I was at the time says it was twelve. I looked at 
the bow attentively, but not critically, as I was not aware of the 
exceptional character of the phenomenon. The day was fine, but 
there was a haze in the sky, which gave an indistinct outline to the 
masses of cloud which occupied the northern heaven. It looked to 
me like a cloud rainbow, as its continuity seemed to correspond to 
that of the cloudy mass on which it was seen. I remember particu- 
larly one spot to the west of the middle, where there was a partial 
break in the clouds and a similar defect in the bow. As regards 
colour, it wore the appearance of a bleached rainbow, with an in- 
definite stratification of tints. I did not specially mark each grada- 
tion of colour from the red to the blue, but I had a distinct impres- 
sion of such. The colours were faint, and the perception of the 
coloured rainbow effect was as much, or more, due to contrast, than 
to the colours taken individually. 
7. Extract of Letter to the President from H. E. Eosevelt, Esq., 
dated New York, Dec. 23, 1877. 
“ I saw the ‘ Phonograph’ the other day, and though it is very 
crude I was much interested. I would briefly describe the idea as 
follows : — 
“ To the centre of an iron diaphragm is attached a metallic point 
resting against a strip of paper or tinfoil. You speak against dia- 
phragm through a mouthpiece, at same time the paper being drawn 
under the points. The vibration of diaphragm and point indent the 
paper to various depths, making an undulating (as it were) mark, 
&c. Now, if said paper is afterwards drawn under the point, the 
diaphragm vibrates exactly as your voice made it vibrate, and all 
the sounds are reproduced exactly as you said them, making a most 
astonishing effect — singing, laughing, and articulate words were all 
reproduced. Of course it is by no means perfect, but it is very 
interesting. By attaching a point to one of our strong telephones 
we could record any messages sent. Though the phonograph is 
purely mechanical in its ordinary use, I mention all this to you, as 
you will probably soon hear of it, and naturally would not believe 
it a possible thing. The above is the invention of Mr Eddison, 
who showed it to me himself.” 
