seen in London^ September 25, 1827. 423 



consistent with the persuasion, that the Aurora Australis, in 

 its turn, is a phenomenon of the Austral or Antarctic winter. 



8. That considerable or powerful displays of the Aurora are 

 infrequent, even in the extreme Polar regions ; and that it is 

 very considerable or powerful displays alone, which make them- 

 selves visible in the lower latitudes, north or south of the 

 equator* 



9. That no appearance belongs to the Aurora itself, but that 

 of its coruscations, columns, spears, or streamers ; and that 

 all colours, therefore, or coloured figures, not belonging to the 

 coruscations, but coincident in their appearance, are to be 

 regarded only as reflections or refractions of light, derived 

 from the coruscations by the clouds which happen to cover the 

 sky. 



10. That the colours, or coloured light, proper to the Aurora, 

 or seen in the columns or coruscations themselves, are varied 

 from column or coruscation to column or coruscation, and 

 severally continued in the direction, and throughout the length 

 or height, of each. 



11. That, in the late example, the columns or coruscations 

 situate in the due north, or apparent centre or focus of the phe- 

 nomenon, exhibited a light at least comparatively white ; and 

 that the variation, from white to colour, had an apparent 

 relation to the comparative remoteness of each column or 

 coruscation from the column or coruscation in the central 

 north. 



12. That the direction or position of the columns or co- 

 ruscations of the Aurora, are so far from being uniformly con- 

 vergent toward the zenith, or uniformly vertical, or from the' 

 horizon to the zenith, that, in the late example, they did not 

 converge toward the zenith, but, contrariwise, diverged from it ; 

 spreading themselves like the sticks of a fan, or like stalks in a 

 flower-basket. 



13. That the columns or coruscations of the Aurora are not 

 uniformly rectilinear in their figure ; but that, in the late ex- 

 ample, those on the north-eastward were curved outwardly, 

 or " bent sideways," as described in the appearance of the 

 columns or coruscations of an Aurora seen in the Southern 

 Atlantic, during the voyage of Captain Cook, in the year 1773. 



