element of motion has already been
considered.

The arc of view intercepted by
Brown Mountain is a little greater
than the arc between the lines D and
F on the accompanying map (fig. 1).
Line D is drawn to a road that seems
to be a thoroughfare near Brindletown.
Line E is drawn tangent to the South-
ern Railway near Thermal City. Just
east of this line is a thoroughfare
and a short distance farther east is
the track of the Carolina, Clinchfield
& Ohio Railway. Line F is drawn to
the same road and railroads a few
miles farther northwest.

Automobile headlights on any of the
numerous roads that point toward
Blowing Rock within the area desig-
nated and south of Catawba River
would be visible from Blowing Rock
over Brown Mountain.

The writer was told at Blowing Rock
that a good time to see the light was
from 9:30 p.m. to 10 or a little lat-
er. The agent of the Southern Railway
at Thermal City states that a north-
bound train on that railway passes
that station at 9:30 p.m., maintain-
ing approximately the same schedule
the year round. The agent at Glenwood
on the same railway reports that a
train is due there at 9:53 the year
round. Data for the other railroad
are not available) but doubtless
there are some northbound evening
freight trains on it. The agreement
of the train schedule with the above
statement about the time to see the

lights is certainly more than a
coincidence.

It may be questioned whether a
locomotive headlight could be seen
for a distance so great as that be-
tween Blowing Rock and Thermal City,
which is about 45 miles. The Minots
Ledge light, already mentioned, is
rated at 75,000 candlepower by the
Bureau of Lighthouses and is visible
for distances greater than 25 miles.
The writer was told by Mr. Chadwick,
of the Engineering Department of the
Southern Railway, that the headlights
in common use on that system are in-
candescent nitrogen lamps rated at 250
watts and 32 volts. Fitted with 16-
inch silvered-copper parabolic re-
flectors, these lights yield about
600,000 candlepower. There is there-
fore no reason to doubt that the
headlights would be visible at a dis-
tance of 45 miles.

The high power of these lights ac-
counts for the brilliancy ascribed to
the Brown Mountain light by observers
who have seen it when the air was
exceptionally clear, and it also ac-
counts for the fact that some of the
lights seen are brighter than others.
In summary it may be said that the
Brown Mountain lights are clearly not
of unusual nature or origin. About 47
percent of the lights that the writer
was able to study instrumentally were
due to automobile headlights, 33 per-
cent to locomotive headlights, 10
percent to stationary lights, and 10
percent to brush fires.