Meteorological Observations for March 1831. 399 



The eclipse continued interesting till one minute after six, when clouds 

 intervened, and it was not seen afterwards by the naked eye. But at 

 twenty minutes past six, mean time, there was an opening in the cloud, 

 when by the aid of a telescope it appeared that the moon's southern limb 

 had just emerged out of the earth's shadow, as the penumbra was then se- 

 parating from the moon's limb. 



AURORJE BOREALES. In the evening of the 7th of March 1831, an 

 aurora borealis appeared from seven till ten o'clock. It rose slowly the 

 first half-hour, and the arch of light, extending from the North-east by 

 North to North-west by West, attained its greatest altitude about half- 

 past eight. Soon after eight two columns of light emanated from the aurora 

 about sixty degrees West of North, and were followed by many others till 

 nine. At a quarter before nine several broad flame-coloured columns rose 

 through Cassiopeia, and suddenly changed to red and lake colours ; and 

 on receding, parts of them were left behind, which continued several minutes 

 in the form of red patches. 



The mean of several altitudes of the upper edge of the arch of the aurora 

 when best denned (not a rainbow-like arch) between 8 and 9 o'clock, 

 taking the vertex to be in the magnetic north, was 10 3'. At nine the 

 aurora began to sink, and disappeared by ten. 



In the night of the 8th, when the clouds disappeared at 11 o'clock, a 

 faint aurora presented itself, and kept up till 1 A.M. 



In--the evening of the llth, at half-past eight, an aurora borealis rose 

 slowly from the northern horizon, and at forty minutes past nine its arch 

 of light was brightest and at its greatest altitude, which was nearly the 

 same as that in the evening of the 7th, described above. 



At ten minutes before ten there was a range of twelve flame-coloured 

 columns along the whole extent of the arch, about seven degrees distant 

 from each other, one degree wide, and twenty-five degrees in altitude, 

 which had a fine and rather a singular appearance. A few drops of rain 

 now fell from a distant nimbus towards the North, which soon passed off 

 to the eastward, and the aurora appeared again, but sunk slowly, with oc- 

 casional coruscations from it till twelve, when it disappeared. 



REMARKS. 



London. March 1. B'ine. 2, 3. Rain. 4. Slight fog in the morning : 

 very fine. 5. Overcast. 6. Stormy and wet. 7. Fine. 8. Overcast : rain 

 at night. 9. Fine. 10. Foggy. 11. Rain. 12. Fine in the morning : 

 windy, with rain at night. 13. Stormy and wet. 14. Fine: showery: 

 fine at night. 15. Stormy and wet. 16. Cloudy: small rain: fine. 

 17 20. Fine. 21 23. Cold and dry. 24. Sleet: cold rain, with some 

 hail in the afternoon. 25. Windy, and cold : rain at night. 26. Wet in 

 the morning: fine. 27. Very fine: at night windy with showers. 28. Fine. 

 29 31. Cold and dry, with north-east wind. 



Penzance. March 1. Fair. 2. Misty. 3. Rain. 4. Misty. 5. Rain. 

 6, 7. Fair. 8. Rain. 9. Fair. 10. Fair': rain. 1 1 . Rain : fair. 12. Rain. 

 13, 14. Showers. 15, 16. Rain. 17 21. Clear. 22, 23. Fair. 24. Clear: 

 rain. 25. Fair : rain. 26. Rain. 27, 28. Clear. 29. Fair. 30. Clear. 

 31. Fair. 



Boston. March 1. Fine. 2. Cloudy: rain early A.M. 3. Cloudy: rain 

 at night. 4. Cloudy. 5. Rain. 6. Cloudy: rain at night. 7. Fine. 

 8. Fine: rain at night. 9, 10. Fine. 1 1. Rain and stormy. 12. Fine: 

 rain P.M. 13. Fine: hail-storm at night. 14. Fine. 15, 16. Cloudy. 

 17. Fine. 18 23. Cloudy. 24. Snow. '25. Fine. 26. Rain. 27, 28. Fine. 

 29. Cloudy. SO. Fine: rain early A.M. 31. Fine. 



Meteoro- 



