A Pecullar Phenomenon. TO THE EDITOR,

Otago Witness, Issue 2199, 23 April 1896, Page 34

A Pecullar Phenomenon. TO THE EDITOR,

Sia,— One night lately (April 8), whila ridiig alopg the Uk«. I observed a rather peculiar phenomenon which, altboiifh I bave read of somewhat similar appearances, I yet think was both remarkable and unusual, end, so far as my experience goes, quite unique. In the bope that some of your readers may be able to explain, I •hall give an account of it. Theev<ning mentioned closed in cloudy and threateningly ; the wind, which wjs moderate, blew from the west ; drops of lain were falling, put no', heavily ; a low growl of thunder in the distance could be heard occasionally, and ps dusk came on there were frequent flashes of bright frheet lightning 1 . Afc 8 p.m. the sky overhead had bacoms completely oveicast, tha cWkiiCw being to iutema that the outlines of my horse's head and neck could bs distinguished only as an indistinct blur in the general gloom. I found it necessary to rida at a walking pact*, as tho track was visible only when a fiifth of lightning tcvealed it. In my hand I carried a light rod or branch of manuka, which I used as a whip for my horse. I had cut the branch from among aoma scrub which crew along tha edge of the laky. The waik! was about four feet in LsEßth by lulf an inch in diameter. Last winter's hard ft'Oit had nipped the nunuka scrub, so that this branch of it wti not green, la riding quietly along I bit off with my teetfc a small apliutcr of about 3in iv length of the butt or root end of tho wand, and was surprised to fee on the point of the chip a mull, bright light. For' tho moment I thought the appearance of the I'yhfc must be o a ing to some slight tremoc of tho visioa nerve i,n the retina, and I was just satisfying ruyielf with this conclusion when I noticed a siniiUr star of light on the root end of tho nwnulta rod, which I heM in my hand with the rojtend uppermost or eky war.l. I natur«Hy b«. came greatly interested, and held the branch hUflisr than my haad. and lonk'ngat itagainat tho dark background of the cloudy «ky I could dibcera very distinctly not only ths bright itar-llke glow, on the end but for a distance of Oin or Sin down towards my hand the luminous l'ght appeared on the sv-le of the stick, which was iv theltcr from, the wind, which here blew very gently— just » light breeze. Suspecting tbat possibly Ihe light might be owing to the presence of phosphorous in Borne form (I had carried no matches for weeks before, nor hid I been in contact with yhoxphorus in any shape for some days previously), I now turned the top end of the ro.l up to the oky. There were eight or ten small branches on lha top end which had not been touched by my band in any way, acd to my astonishment ther» were now clearly perceptible several Ij^lit? on tha points of the twigs exactly ' similar to tha light- I had noted on the roo 1 ; end of the rod. As I passed tbe deep shadow of a trea, or held the red against the black clouds overhead, the luminous glow on the siiall bra che? was beautifully distinct n»-d quite steady. On ray dropping the top end of the wand towards the ground the light ins'antly dis*p> p -are'), but became again visible on tho tn t towartls the sky. O ly the epd of thi* lod whicb, was skyward showed the light, no light being visible on either end when I held the rod level or iv a horizontal position. The luminosity seemed to show more distill tly when I held one end of the rod up at an angle of from 60 to bO degrees, but the glow could be seen on the uppermost end always until it was brought nearly horizontal. I tried rubbing the end of the rod on tbe horse's mane and on my own hair, but thia did not seen to alter the light in the least degree. In about half an hour, when I left the lake and bad in the course of a mile aud a-quarter a&ccndeJ a dope to an altitude of 300 ft, the light completely disappeared from the rod, no matier in what position I held it. As I had risen up the acclivity I noticed it disappear, and then again become faintly discernible occasionally uutil it gradually died out altogether. The weather was moderately warm, and r<*iu fell intermittently for several hour* afterwards. The threatened storm approached no nearer than to make the thunder audible at long intervals!. I conclude tbat this singular appearance was mainly due to a peculiarly electrified state of tn» atmospheie under a certain pressure, which being diminished as I rose in altitude, failed to causa the same effects as the denser strata of the air on the lower level. This que«ticn suggests itself: If the light on the rod was owing altogether to an atmospheric condition only, and not partly owing to the contact of the rod with the person, why were the other bushes and trees which grew around not showing any trace of the light? Perhaps some of your scientific readers can tell us the why and the wherefore of thia business. To those who may be conversant with pscychalogy as enunciated by Dr Carpenter, I may meation that the state of my health, at the time and for weeks previously was normal, and as I had ridden only about 25 miles that day I was not tired in the least degree. Nothing had lately occurred to disturb me in an unusual degree either phyfaically or mentally, and I had the ni<ht Defer* enjoyed an undisturbed and dreamless sleep of seven or eight hourd' duration, so that altogether my atate of health at the time was perfectly satis* factory.— l am, <fee., Dugalo Mathesost. Lake Ohau, April 10.

The decay of "home life." is declared by faa Auckland Society for the Protection of Women, and Children to be mainly responsible for many of the evils with which the aocicfcr ii toting to