IX. A Letter from the Re v* Mr. Timothy 
Neve, Secretary of the Gentlemen's So- 
ciety at Peterborourg, to C. Mortimer, Seer. 
R. S. containing his Obfervations of two 
Parhelia, or Mock-Suns, feen Dec. 30, 
1735. and of an Aurora Borealis, Dec. 
SIR, 
I Send you an Account of two Phenomena which 
I lately faw : The firft was on Tuefday the 30th 
of ‘December paft, as I was riding betwixt Cherry 
Orton and Alwalton in the County of Huntingdon , 
I obferved two ‘Parhelia , the firft of which fhone fo 
bright, that at firft Sight I took it for the real Sun, till 
looking a little farther on my left Hand, 1 was con- 
vinced of my Miftake, by feeing the true Sun much 
the bright eft in the Middle, and a Mock- Sun on each 
Side, in a Line exaftly parallel to the Horizon. I 
gueffed. their Diftance to be about 40 Diameters of 
the Sun, or, as they ufually appear, 23 Degrees. That 
on the left Hand of the Sun, when I faw it firft, was 
fmall and faint, but in about two Minutes time be- 
came as large and bright as the other, and appear'd at 
once as two white lucid Spots on each Side the Sun, 
Eaft and W eft, feemingly as big, but not fo well de- 
fin'd ; In about three Minutes they loft both their Co- 
lour and Form, and put on thofe of the Rainbow ; 
the Red and Yellow in both very beautiful and ftrong 
neareft to the Sun, the other Colours fainter. They be- 
came 
