Account of a horizontal rainbow observed at sea / by C. Collingwood.

  • Collingwood, Cuthbert, 1826-1908.
Date:
1867
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Account of a horizontal rainbow observed at sea / by C. Collingwood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    From the Philosophical Magazine for December 1867. ACCOUNT OF A HORIZONTAL RAINBOW OBSERVED AT SEA. BY Dr. C. COLLINGWOOD, F.L.S. etc. [With a Plate.] ON May 5th of the present year I witnessed a most remark- able phenomenon. I was in lat. 25° 19' S. and long. 54° 1 S' E., the weather very fine and bright, and we were sail- ing with a light breeze. Observing signs of a squall blowing- up from the S.S.E. while I was sitting reading on deck, I got up and went to the port gangway to watch its approach. It was about half-past one p.m., and the sun was therefore in the N.N.W., exactly opposite the approaching squall, upon which was already developed a rainbow of low altitude (12° to 15°). While gazing at it my attention was arrested by a yell o wish- brown haze upon the horizon immediately under the centre of the arc, which, although very faint, appeared from its position to have some connexion with the squall or with the rainbow; and I was thus induced to watch it attentively. At first it was a mere indefinite tinge of colour on the distant horizon, and for two or three minutes it seemed to undergo no change; but at