12 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



And again: 



"The Northern Lights in the crystal nights came forth with 



a mystic gleam. 

 They danced and danced the devil-dance over the naked 



snow; 

 And soft they rolled like a tide upshoaled with a ceaseless 



ebb and flow. 

 They rippled green with a wondrous sheen, they fluttered 



out like a fan; 

 They spread with a blaze of rose-pink rays never yet seen of 



man. 

 They writhed like a brood of angry snakes, hissing and 



sulphur pale 

 Then swift they changed to a dragon vast, lashing a cloven 



tail. 



"They rolled around with a soundless sound like softly 



bruised silk 

 They poured into the bowl of the sky with the gentle flow of 



milk. 

 In eager pulsing violet their wheeling chariots came, 

 Or they poised above the Polar rim like a coronal of flame. 

 From depths of darkness fathomless their lancing rays were 



hurled, 

 Like' the all-combining searchlights of the navies of the 

 world." 

 Some authorities credit us in Northern Ontario with an average 

 of thirty displays annually. My impression is that we have 

 many more than that, but impressions are poor substitutes for 

 definite statistics. At any rate, it is a well recognized fact that 

 we have many more opportunities of observing the Aurora than 

 there are in the same latitude in Europe. Our isochasm or zone 

 of auroral frequency is the same as that of Norway or northern 

 Scotland, tho our latitude is south of any part of Great Britain. 

 There have been few opportunities, however, for studying the 

 lights this past fall, both because there have not been many 

 occurrences of the phenomenon, and also because there has been 

 much cloudy weather. From. August 30th to September 6th 

 we had fine displays every night, the most brilliant being on the 

 night of September first. 



