164 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



seen from the center of the stream, away from the glare of the street- 

 lamps. A decently-dressed and not unintelligent-looking man asked 

 me, with a troubled look, and pointing to the heavens : 



" What U that?" 



" It's the aurora borealis," I replied. 



He seemed relieved to find some one who could give it a name, and 

 who did not appear to be alarmed. 



" I thought it might be the comet the papers are talking about," 

 he said, " and I didn't know what was going to happen." 



I know that this man's vague fears were shared by others. 



Everybody who had anything to do with telegraphs will remem- 

 ber the effects of the aurora. The wires played strange freaks. In 

 some places they were disconnected from the batteries and worked by 

 means of the current furnished by the magnetic storm ; in other 

 places they refused to work at all. The Atlantic cable was crippled, 

 and at intervals, for several days thereafter, there was considerable 

 delay of all telegraphic business. Subsequently it was learned that 

 the auroral storm had raged, simultaneously, not only in the United 

 States and Canada, but in Great Britain, on the Continent of Europe, 

 and in Asia, extending clear across to the shores of China. 



The next day, when I turned my telescope upon the sun, I was as- 

 tonished at the changes that had taken place. The smaller spot, which 

 I had seen increasing in magnitude on the previous day, had swollen 

 to between five and six times its former size, so that now it was about 

 half as large as the larger spot, and both were clearly visible to the 

 unassisted eye, shaded with a dark glass. 



I find by reference to the exact measurements of these spots, made 

 at the Greenwich Observatory, that, whereas on the 16th the area of 

 the smaller spot was to that of the larger about as 1 to 13*6, on the 

 17th the relative magnitudes were about as 1 to 2*2. 



For three or four days afterward there were magnetic disturbances 

 and occasional auroral displays at night, and during this time the ac- 

 tivity of the solar forces continued. 



On the 19th there was another magnetic storm, and coincidently 

 with it the smaller spot suddenly increased in size again, until it was 

 nearly as large as the other, and on the 21st it actually surpassed its 

 neighbor in magnitude. After that both groups rapidly waned, the 

 one which had undergone the remarkable development I have de- 

 scribed fading much faster than the other one. 



The next great display of sun-spots accompanied by auroras and 

 magnetic disturbances if we except one or two of minor importance 

 and a somewhat remarkable one seen in Europe, which will be de- 

 scribed hereafter occurred in November last, culminating on the 

 17th of that month in one of the greatest magnetic storms on record, 

 which crippled the telegraphs almost all over the civilized world. In 

 Europe fine auroras were observed on the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 



