PROCEEDINGS 
OF 
THE LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL 
SOCIETY. 
Ordinary Meeting, October 7th, 1873. 
E. W. Binney, F.RS., F.G.S., Vice-President, in the Chair. 
Mr. Samuel Broughton was elected Treasurer of the So- 
ciety in place of the late Mr. Thomas Garrick. 
Atmospheric Refraction and the last rays of the Setting 
Sun,” by David Winstanley, Esq. 
It is recorded in the Proceedings of this Society that a 
letter dated from Southport and written by Dr. Joule was 
read at the meeting held on the 5th October, 1869. In that 
letter it is remarked that “ Mr. Baxendell noticed the fact 
that at the moment of the departure of the sun below the 
horizon the last glimpse is coloured bluish green.” Dr. 
Joule also observes that on two or three occasions he had 
himself noticed the phenomenon in question and that “just 
at the upper edge where bands of the sun’s disc are separated 
one after the other by refraction, each band becomes coloured 
blue just before it vanishes.” 
During the past eighteen months the writer, from his resi- 
dence in Blackpool, has had frequent opportunities of observ- 
ing the setting sun, and has noticed the phenomenon of the 
final coloured ray certainly more than fifty times. To the 
naked eye its appearance has generally been that of a green 
spark of large size and great intensity, very similar to one 
of the effects seen when the sun shines upon a well cut 
diamond. The colour however is by no means constant, 
being often, as in the case of Mr. Baxendell’s observation, 
bluish green, and at times as mentioned by Dr. J oule, quite 
Proceedings — Lit. & Phil, Society, — Vol, XIII. — No. 1 — Session 1873-4. 
