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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



light, however — unlike comets — were 

 more brilliant at their bases, less 

 so at their apices. Their bases were 

 directed upwards, their points down. 

 They were constantly changing, ap- 

 pearing and disappearing, but not very 

 rapidly. Some would remain a min- 

 ute or more without much variation. 

 The number varied from ten to fifteen. 

 They were shorter toward the zenith, 

 longer toward the horizon. At the 

 western end of the arch, one long half- 

 luminous streak shot up obliquely (as 

 sho^^■n in the figure) and remained for 

 some minutes after the arch itself had 

 disappeared. The arch lasted from 

 9.30 to nearly 10 p.m. 



In size the comet-like pendants ap- 

 peared about as wide at their bases 

 as the diameter of a full moon, and 

 four or five times such a diameter in 

 length. I reach this estimate by com- 

 paring my own conception with those 

 of several others who made observa- 

 tions at the same time. 



It should be noted that no visible 

 connection existed between the arch 

 and the nebulous masses and streaks 

 of light near the northern horizon. 



In looking at the diagram the read- 

 er may well conceive it to be too toy- 

 like and artificial to come within the 

 range of truth or possibility, but so 

 was the arch itself. No one could 

 have conceived such a display to be 

 either natural or possible. To some 

 it suggested a festive arch adorned 

 Vv'ith luminovis cornucopias, like a 

 Christmas decoration. Those of us 

 who a few weeks before had obtained 

 telescopic views of Barelli's comet 

 with some difficulty, seemed now to 

 be rewarded by nature exhibiting a 

 whole string of far more brilliant 

 comets for our special delectation. 

 The kind and degree of luminosity ap- 

 peared to be almost exactly like that 

 of the comet when seen through a good 

 glass. 



The splendor and magnificence of the 

 display were beyond description ; 

 startlingly beautiful. The spectacle 



seemed almost to overstep the modesty 

 of nature, but its coming unheralded 

 during the majestic silence of the 

 night served to banish so unjust a 

 thought. Surprise, delight, admira- 

 tion and awe — these were the feelings 

 that thrilled with pleasure those of us 

 who witnessed the sublime and mys- 

 terious scene — a scene that few of us 

 will ever see again. 



The last we saw of this aurora was 

 at midnight when a diffuse light be- 

 hind a low bank of clovid near the 

 northern horizon gave the appearance 

 as of a moon about to rise. But a 

 medical acquaintance — Dr. S. W. Al- 

 len — who was out at 2 a.m. saw shim- 

 mering waves of iridescent light 

 streaming radially upwards from the 

 horizon towards a central point at 

 the zenith, a not very unusual phe- 

 nomenon which many of us have seen 

 once or more during the last half 

 century. 



Auroral arches from east to west 

 have been observed in the Arctic re- 

 gions; double and triple ones are re- 

 corded by Mr. E. B. Baldwin in 

 Peary's ' Northward over the Great 

 Ice,' vol. 2, p. 191 et seq., but in this 

 country they are certainly very un- 

 usual. Baldwin describes one in which 

 the arch formed itself into a luminous 

 curtain, and the curtain folds knotted 

 ' themselves into a series of electric 

 balls suspended in the same arch-or- 

 der ' (p. 198). These globes of light 

 may have had some approaching re- 

 semblance to the comet-like pennants 

 of light I have endeavored to describe. 



A. F. A. King. 



SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY. 



To THE Editor: In the first two 

 paragraphs of Sir Oliver Lodge's ad- 

 mirable address entitled 'ISIodern Views 

 on Matter,' published in the August 

 number of this journal, he alludes to 

 a distinction between the scientific as- 

 pects and the philosophical aspects of 

 his subject and hastens to disclaim any 

 qualifications for discussing the lat- 



