Borealis above the Surface of the Earth. 427 



London. — The aurora was seen in and about London the 

 same evening. (See pages 4-78 and 480, vol. xiv. Annals of 

 Philosophy.) 



Gosport.— In the same volume of Annals, page 395, there 

 is an account of the same aurora as seen at Gosport Obser- 

 vatory, Hampshire, on that evening, by Dr. Burney. The 

 following is an extract: " On the 17th instant, at 7 P.M. a 

 light about 30° on either side of the magnetic north point ap- 

 peared in the shape of a luminous arch whose apex was 18° 

 above the horizon." He then describes several beams of the 

 common aurora which successively appeared and traversed 

 about for a time chiefly within the arch, and then vanished and 

 were succeeded by others. After which, he adds: " Soon 

 after this (9 o'clock) the luminous arch in the northern hemi- 

 sphere entirely disappeared, and some haze collected near the 

 horizon." 



Gosport and Keswick are very nearly under the same mag- 

 netic meridian, and 265 miles distant. Newton- Stewart is 

 N.W. by W. of Keswick, distant about sixty-five miles, but 

 only thirty-five miles in a meridional direction. Now I ima- 

 gine it will be allowed that an extraordinary luminous arch 

 seen at Newton- Stewart to cross the meridian a few degrees 

 south of the zenith, and to continue from 8 to near 9 o'clock, 

 nearly in that position, must have been the arch seen at Kes- 

 wick at the same time to cross the meridian in like manner 

 from east to west, and to pass nearly through the zenith. It 

 may well be supposed, then, that this arch crossing through 

 the zenith at Keswick would have a very diminished altitude 

 if seen at Gosport, 265 miles south. From the account I have 

 extracted, it appears that a luminous arch was seen there at 

 the same time it was seen at the other places, and crossing the 

 meridian at right angles, only its altitude 18° from the north, 

 instead of being in the zenith, as at Keswick, or a few degrees 

 south of it, as seen in Scotland. And further, the arch va- 

 nished at all the places at the same time. It scarcely admits 

 of doubt, then, that these arches were all one and the same. 

 By calculation from the data at Gosport and Keswick, I find 

 the height of the arch above Keswick to be 100 or 102 miles; 

 from which the angle of elevation from Newton-Stewart must 

 have been 71° from the south, or the zenith distance of the 

 arch 19°. 



A luminous arch was seen at Kendal on the 27th of Decem- 

 ber 1827, of which my friend Samuel Marshall was so good 

 as to write me a circumstantial account. It was first seen at 

 ten minutes past 6 in the evening, being an arch between the 

 magnetic east and west, and passing through the zenith. It 



3 I 2 was 



