writer could not be ascribed to
such a cause.
2. Phosphorus: It has been suggested
that the lights may be caused in
some way by the element phospho-
rus. Phosphorus, however, is so
easily oxidized that it does not
occur in the free state. It is
usually locked up in stable and
relatively insoluble chemical
compounds and therefore cannot
be a cause of the Brown Mountain
light.
3. Phosphorescence (fox fire): Some
organic bodies, such as stumps
or logs, become luminous or
phosphorescent by slow oxidation
and combustion in the course of
their decay. Such lights are too
feeble to be seen at a distance
of several miles and are unlike
the lights seen by the writer.
4. Radium emanations: The late F. H.
Hossfield is reported to have
found a piece of pitchblende, an
ore of radiumt near the south-
west end of Brown Mountain, and
some therefore think that Brown
Mountain may contain a large
body of radium ore, which might
by emanation produce the ob-
served lights. So far as the
writer has been able to learn,
the material that was supposed
to be pitchblende was never so
identified by actual tests, and
the place where it was found is
not accurately known. The speci-
men itself has been lost; but
pitchblende, even if it occurred
---in large clepostts, could not
give rise to lights like those
seen over Brown Mountain. No
known radium ore shows that kind
of luminosity.
5. Chemical reaction between hydrogen
sulfide a~d lead oxide: In a
letter received from Mr. E. C.
Ivey, of Hickory, it is suggested
that the lights may be so caused,
and it is stated that both