The electron temperature in the positive column of a glow discharge in hydrogen and helium as a function of the transverse magnetic field in the range of 0 to 1000 G has been obtained by measuring the intensities of two spectral lines having the same lower level. Since the electron number density in the column is of the order of 1010 cm-3 the semicorona model suitably modified has been used to calculate the plasma electron temperature in a magnetic field. For lower values of the field the variation of the electron temperature with the field can be represented by an expression deduced by Sen and Gupta (1971) following Beckman's theory. The electron energy distribution in a transverse field can thus be nearly Maxwellian.
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