In certain states of the atmosphere, chiefly occurring in Polar Re- 
gions, the sun and moon are surrounded with circles and parts of circles 
of various sizes and forms, producing the most singular and remarkable 
effects. All these appearances are called halos. The small halos seen 
round the sun and moon in fine weather, when the sky is partially 
covered with light fleecy clouds, are also called coronce. Sometimes the 
image of the sun or moon is repeated several times, producing what are 
called parhelia or mock-suns, andparaselence or mock-moons. 
A few years ago a beautiful exhibition of parhelia occurred in the 
northern parts of America. The atmosphere had been very hazy, but as 
the haziness cleared off the first appearance was a brilliant parhelion. 
" Its form at first was nearly circular, and its apparent diameter a little 
greater than that of the true sun. Its light, which was of a brilliant 
white, was so intense as to pain the eyes. In a few moments, another 
parhelion, of equal brightness, appeared at the same distance on the east 
side of the sun, and at the same altitude. When first seen it appeared a 
little elongated vertically, and slightly coloured. Both these parhelia 
retained their size and appearance for a few moments, and then began to 
lengthen in a vertical direction, and show the prismatic colours with con- 
siderable brilliancy. Directly above the sun appeared, at the same time 
with the parhelia, a coloured arc, having its centre in the zenith, and its 
convexity towards the sun. The exterior was red; the other colours 
were merged into each other, but the blue and green were predomi- 
nant, though faint." 
Paraselense are frequently seen in the Polar Regions. Captain Parry 
noticed several of them during the long winter nights of those dreary 
abodes. On the 1st December, 1819, he remarked one close to the hori- 
zon ; another perpendicularly above it; and two others on a line parallel 
to the horizon. " Their shape was like that of a comet, the tail being 
from the moon. The side towards the moon was of a light orange co- 
lour. During the existence of these mock-moons, a halo or luminous 
ring appeared round the moon, and passed through all the mock-moons, 
at which instant two yellowish coloured lines joined the opposite mock- 
moons and formed four quadrants, bisecting each other at the centre of 
the circle. These appearances varied in brightness, and continued above 
an hour." On another occasion a circular halo surrounded the moon : 
part of a well defined circle of white light passing through the 
moon, extended for several degrees on each side of her, and in points 
where this circle intersected the halo were paraselense. In the part of 
the halo immediately over the moon was another much brighter, and op- 
posite to it in the lower paxt of the circle another similar but much more 
faint. About the same time on the following evening two concentric 
circles were observed round the moon, upon the inner of which were 
four paraselenee exhibiting the colours of the rainbow. On another 
evening he saw a halo which had in it three paraselense, very luminous, 
but not tinged with prismatic colours, and on the following day the same 
phenomena occurred with the addition of a vertical stripe of white light 
proceeding from the upper and lower limbs of the moon, and forming, 
with a part of the horizontal circle seen before, the appearance of 
a cross. There was also at times an arc of another circle touching 
the halo, which sometimes almost reached to the zenith, changing 
the intensity of its light, very frequently not unlike the Aurora 
Borealis. 
In former ages such appearances produced great terror ; but their 
cause is now known. In cold regions, the vapour of the atmosphere be- 
ing frozen, innumerable particles of ice, of an angular form, fill the air, 
and refract and sometimes decompose the rays of the sun and moon. In 
the Arctic Regions, at the time when halos are most frequently seen, 
the particles of floating ice prick the skin like needles, and raise blisters 
on the face and hands. In temperate regions halos are only observed 
during cold weather, and in the Torrid Zone they never occur; the 
cold not being sufficient to freeze the vapour of the atmosphere. 
No. 11.] 
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