298 Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena^ 



when, he says, " the weather was dark and gloomy, but the 

 sky, at times, so brightly illuminated, almost in an instant, as 

 to give quite as much light as the full moon similarly clouded," 

 &c. On Oct. 1 5. 1 833, Brighton Chain Pier was struck by light- 

 ning; and on that day, also, there fell, most unexpectedly, a 

 tremendous rain in the Val di Noto, on Etna, during eighteen 

 hours, occasioning such a torrent, that the river Acellaro 

 destroyed several houses, bridges, palaces, &c., drowning 100 

 persons.* (Sicilian Journal.) Either on the 12th or 13th 

 (the date is lost) there was an earthquake at Antigua. The 

 height of the aurora, on this occasion, tallies with the wide 

 extent, including the localities of the gales, rain, and earth- 

 quake.f 



Mr. Scoresby, in his Account of the Arctic Regions (1. 

 417.), considers the aurora, "under certain circumstances, 

 as portentous," and says, " one of the most tremendous storms 

 I was ever exposed to, succeeded a splendid exhibition of 

 the northern lights." He has also mentioned the following 

 dates of the aurora succeeded by storms, variable in pr'oportion 

 to the intensity of the meteor: viz. April 15. 1807; April 4. 

 ]810; March 28. 1811; April 7. 1815; April 8. 1818; April 

 22. and 23. 1818. The foregoing examples are sufficient to 

 connect the occurrences of the American meteors with the 



* This rain, like that at Harvard (Silliman's Joiirn?)y seems to have been 

 the effect of some developement of electricity. The Italian papers call it 

 unexpected, 



f The ancient authors who speak of the destruction of Helice and 

 Bura, cities of Greece (b. c. 372 or 373), mention a column of fire ^ which 

 ascended very high into the air, during the time of the earthquake at Delos 

 which preceded the ruin of the cities ; but it is impossible to say whether 

 this was or was not a meteoric phenomenon. (Seneca, Nat. Qucsst.y vi. 26.) 



In St. Isidore's History of the GothSy we find the following prognostics of 

 the approach of Attila : — " Multa eodem tempore coeli et terrae signa 

 praecesserunt, quorum prodigiis tam crudele bellum significaretur. Nam 

 assiduis terra; motibus factis, a parte orientis luna fuscata est, a solis 

 occasu stellae cometes apparuit, atque ingenti magnitudine aliquandiu fulsit. 

 Ab Aquilo7iis plaga ccBlum rubensy sicut ignis aut sanguis y effectus est, per- 

 mistis perigneum ruborem linteis clarioribus m speciem hastarum rutilan- 

 tium deformatis." Here we have the aurora concurrentwith the earthquakes 

 in the fifth century. It is curious to observe the expression " speciem 

 hastarum" as descriptive of the same phenomenon which Pliny alludes to 

 under " armorum crepitus ; " and Gemma (a. d. 1575) under " spears and 

 cities and waves, of clouds and battles." As an exception to the general 

 character which the aurora bears in the minds of the uninformed, we are 

 told by Malte-Brun, quoting Stein's Geography, that, in the first quarter of 

 1817, 12,000 persons emigrated from Wurtemberg, and that religious ideas 

 influenced a great number ; while the aurora, which appeared on Feb. 9., 

 was regarded by many as a sign that their emigratio?i was favoured by heaven.^' 

 (Liv. 141. tom. iv. p. 127., Brux. ed.) This aurora was seen in England, 

 and was followed by deluges of rain. 



