Luminous Halos surrounding Shadows of Heads

Abstract

WITH reference to the letters by Messrs. Evershed and Fermor in NATURE of January 30, it may be of interest that an amusing description of the appearance of halos around shadows is given by Benvenuto Cellini in his autobiography (book i., chap. cxxviii.). After being released from a well-deserved term of imprisonment, he noticed a halo round the shadow of his head, and interpreted it as a mark of the especial favour of heaven. A rough translation of the passage is as follows:—“Also I must not leave unmentioned a thing, the greatest that has happened to any man, which I tell to the glory of God and of His mysteries, who condescended to make me worthy of it. From that time... there remained a splendour (wondrous thing!) on my head, which is evident to all sorts of men to whom I have shown it (who have been very few). This is seen over my shadow in the morning from sunrise until two hours later, and is seen much better when the grass has dew upon it; it is visible again at sunset. I became aware of it in France at Paris, because the air there is so much more free from mist that one sees it more markedly than in Italy, where mists are more frequent.”