Such was probably the origin of the crosses seen
by Constantine and Constantius in the first ages of Christianity, and
such was that of the cross which appeared in the sky in France, to which
so many bore attestation. A large cross of wood, painted red, had been
erected beside the church, as a part of the ceremony they were
performing. In the winter, when the air is most frequently condensed by
cold, and its different strata of various degrees of tenacity, on a
clear evening after rain, when particles of humidity, still floating in
the air gives it greater power of reflection and refraction, when the
sun was setting, and his horizontal beams found most favourable to
produce meteoric phenomena, the spectrum of this wooden cross was cast
on the concave surface of some atmospheric mirror, and so reflected
back to the eyes of the spectators from an opposite place, retaining
exactly the same shape and proportions, but dilated in size, and changed
in position; and it was moreover tinged with red, the very colour of the
object of which it was the reflected image.
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