92 Accounts of Instances of Aurora Borealis 



tinged with crimson, which appeared and disappeared at in- 

 tervals. A westerly wind moved off the clouds, rendering the 

 sky nearly clear by 8 o'clock ; when two broad white columns, 

 which had for some time been gathering between the stars 

 Aquila and Lyra on the west, and the Pleiades and Aries on 

 the east, united above so as to complete a luminous arch, 

 spanning the heavens a little south of the prime vertical. The 

 whole northern hemisphere, being more or less illuminated, 

 and separated from the southern by this zone, was thrown 

 into striking contrast with the latter, which appeared of a 

 dark slate colour, as though the stars were shining through a 

 stratum of black clouds. The zone moved slowly to the 

 south until about 9 o'clock, when it had reached the bright 

 star in the Eagle, in the west, and extended a little south 

 of the constellation Aries, in the east. From this time it 

 began to recede northward, at nearly a uniform rate, until 20 

 minutes before 1 1 o'clock ; when a vast number of columns, 

 white and crimson, began to shoot up simultaneously from 

 all parts of the northern hemisphere, directing their course 

 towards a point a few degrees south and east of the zenith, 

 around which they arranged themselves as around a common 

 focus. The position of this point was between the Pleiades 

 and Alpha Arietis, and south of the Bee, having a right as- 

 cension of 42°, and a declination of 24°, as nearly as could 

 be determined without the aid of instruments ; but this comes 

 so near to the pole of the dipping needle, and to the magnetic 

 meridian, that we need not hesitate to conclude that, agreeably 

 to what has been observed of similar phenomena before, the 

 columns arranged themselves exactly in obedience to the laws 

 of terrestrial magnetism. 



Soon after 11 o'clock, commenced a striking display of 

 those undulatory flashes denominated in the northern regions 

 merry dancers. They consist of thin waves or sheets of light, 

 coursing each other with immense speed. Those undulations 

 which play upon the surface of a field of rye, when gently 

 agitated by the wind, may give to the reader a faint idea of 

 these auroral waves. One of these crimson columns, the 

 most dense and beautiful of all, as it ascended towards the 

 common focus (the vanishing point of perspective for parallel 

 lines), crossed the planer, Jupiter, then at an altitude of 36°. 

 The appearance was peculiarly interesting, as the planet shone 

 through the crimson clouds with its splendour apparently 

 augmented rather than diminished. 



A few shooting stars were seen at intervals, some of which 

 were above the ordinary magnitude and brightness. One 

 that came from between the foot of the Great Bear, at 8 



