e doubt it was an electric phenomenon" (Proctor, _Knowledge_,
2-419).

In the London _Times_, Nov. 20, 1882, the Editor says that he had
received a great number of letters upon this phenomenon. He publishes
two. One correspondent describes it as "well-defined and shaped like a
fish... extraordinary and alarming." The other correspondent writes of
it as "a most magnificent luminous mass, shaped somewhat like a
torpedo."

26

_Notes and Queries_, 5-3-306:

About 8 lights that were seen in Wales, over an area of about 8 miles,
all keeping their own ground, whether moving together perpendicularly,
horizontally, or over a zigzag course. They looked like electric
lights--disappearing, reappearing dimly, then shining as bright as ever.
"We have seen them three or four at a time afterward, on four or five
occasions."

London _Times_, Oct. 5, 1877:

"From time to time the west coast of Wales seems to have been the scene
of mysterious lights.... And now we have a statement from Towyn that
within the last few weeks lights of various colors have been seen moving
over the estuary of the Dysynni River, and out to sea. They are
generally in a northerly direction, but sometimes they hug the shore,
and move at high velocity for miles toward Aberdovey, and suddenly
disappear."

_L'Annee Scientifique_, 1877-45:

Lights that appeared in the sky, above Vence, France, March 23, 1877;
described as balls of fire of dazzling brightness; appeared from a cloud
about a degree in diameter; moved relatively slowly. They were visible
more than an hour, moving northward. It is said that eight or ten years
before similar lights or objects had been seen in the sky, at Vence.

London _Times_, Sept. 19, 1848:

That, at Inverness, Scotland, two large, bright lights that looked like
stars had been seen in the sky: sometimes stationary, but occasionally
moving at high velocity.

_L'Annee Scientifique_, 1888-66:

Observed near St. Petersburg, July 30, 1880, in the evening: a large
spherical light and two smaller ones, moving along a ravine: visible
three minutes; disappearing without noise.

_Nature_, 35-173:

That, at Yloilo, Sept. 30, 1886, was seen a luminous object the size of
the full moon. It "floated" slowly "northward," followed by smaller ones
close to it.

"The False Lights of Durham."

Every now and then in the English newspapers, in the middle of the
nineteenth century, there is something about lights that were seen