seen in London^ September 25, 1827. 401 



from behind it, incessantly and rapidly shot up the most beau- 

 tiful coruscations of white light, which, being relieved by the 

 dark border, added double brilliancy to the ever-shifting scene." 



VI. But, after transcribing these respective accounts, it 

 may be permitted, for the purpose of uniting them with that 

 submitted in the preceding pages, to remark, 



1. That the account by Mr. Adams, of the appearance 

 worn by the Aurora at an early hour in the evening, is, no 

 doubt, entirely correct ; and that it is easy to understand, 

 from this description of that early appearance, why little ob- 

 servation was attracted to the phenomenon till about eleven 

 o'clock at night, the time assigned, as well in this, as in all 

 the other accounts, for the commencement of the phenomenon. 



2. That the " streaks of a pale white light," which Mr. 

 Adams describes as proceeding, a short time after eleven, 

 '*/rom the clouds," must be understood, as stated by the writer 

 last quoted, as proceeding " from behind the clouds ;" that, 

 when the astronomical writer at Deptford speaks of Ursa 

 Major and other stars being seen through the Aurora, it must 

 be recollected, that, perhaps, this remark should apply to the 

 medium of the thin and shifting lights in or near the zenith ; and, 



3. That it is with respect to the ** broad streak, curved," of 

 Mr. Adams ; the *' two red beams of light," of the astronomical 

 observer at Deptford ; and the •* arch" of the present description, 

 that the principal, if not only discordance obtains. Neither 

 of the other three writers appears to have seen any thing, 

 Whether of one " broad streak, curved," and " varying in colour 

 from a deep copper hue to a red," or of ** tico red beams," as 

 spoken by the writer at Deptford ; while, in each of the three 

 accounts in which that part of the phenomenon is actually 

 referred to, the descriptions are materially dissimilar : — 



1. The writer at Edmonton mentions only a single streak, 

 while the writer at Deptford speaks o^two. >^ A^^ l'£if}'diit\«. 



2. Thd wYiter at Edmonton describes his slhgle sti^att' as 

 curved, while the writer at Deptford says nothing of curvature ; 

 and, in describing the position of the beams as '* perpendicular 

 to the horizon," may seem to leave no curvature to be 

 understood. 



