The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-06-13
4 BEAUTIFUL PHENONEN ON.


At the last meeting of the California Academy
scribing a fine exhibition Of parhelia which he
witnessed in this city, on the 18th of April,
about O'Clock P. NJ, and giving general
reference to similar exhibitions elsewhere. We
make the subioined extracts =
The sky in the west, at the time was some
what cloudy and the atmosphere hazy. was
unable to obtain the exact position of the sun,
but its altitude was approximately % deg. above
the horizon; the diameter OF the circle or halo
was about "a deg. A horizontal line, drawn
through the sun, and projected in a northerly
and sOutherly direction TO intersect the halo,
displayed at each point of intersection pdThe-
lion, or mock sun, of very considerable bril-
hour. A much more extensive display of these
phenomena was witnessed by me in the month
Of April, 1856, while residing near Boston, Mass.
The sun was not far from the zenith, sur
rounded by single broad halo, which latter
was in turn enclosed by an outer circle of many
halos, all intersectlng with each other end with
the central halo; each Of the Numerous points
oI Intersection gemmed with pdrhetIOn. So
extensive was the display, owing to the number
of halos and the attendant pdrh0lid, that the
whole heavens from the zenith to within appa.
rent]y 80 degrees of the horizon, seemed COW
cred with brilliant circles or rings and resplen-
dent with numberless suns. The sky at the
time was obscured. by haze of considerable
difficulty, and chilling wind was blowing from
the south.
As 1t might not be unnteresting to the Aca-
deny, have made a few notes from booksiat
my command, in reference to this class of at
mospheric phenomenal
"The simplest form of halo is that OF
white concentric ring surrounding the sun or
moon, occasioned by very thin Vapor diffused
through the atmosphere, or minute particles Of
ice and snow DETECTING the rays of light
Double rings are occasionally seen displaying
the brightest hues of the rainbow. The colored
ring is produced by gobules of visible vapor,
the resulting halo exhibiting character OF
density, and appearing contiguous to the lumi-
nous body according as the atmosphere is sur
charged with humidity; hence dense halo
close to the moon is universally and justly
regarded as an indication of coming rain. 1t
| has been stated, as an approximation, that the
globules which occasion the appearance of
| colored circles vary from the fve-thousandth
to the fifty .hOusandth part OF an inch IN dIa-
''In the northern regions solar and lunar halos
| are very common, y Z" owing to the abundance
of minute and highly crystallized spicula of ice
| floating in the atmosphere.
| "Pdihelid are due to the same cause as
| halos which appear in connection with them.
| Luminous circles, or segments crossing one
| ano her, produce conspicuous masses of light
by their united lntensities, and the points OF
intersection appear studded with the solar
image; O frequent spectacle in Arctic
climes. In less enlightened age the exhibit
tons OF these phenomena created great con-
Matthew Paris relates in his history: "a won.
deriul sight was seen in England A. D. 1888,
April S, in the fifth year of the reign of Henry
III, and lasted from sunrise till noon.
cat the same time, on the 9Th of April, about
| O'Clock, in the borders OF Herefordshire and
Worcestershire, besides the true sun there ap
peared in the sky four mock suns of red color
also certain large circle of the color of crystal
about two feet bread, which encompassed all
England, as it were.n
POraseleag, or mock moons, depending upor
the causes which produce the solar image, or
several examples OF it 4, frequently adorn the
Arctic sky San francisco Bulletin.