Meteorology. 3t7 



A fine aurora borealis was seen at Perth on the evening of Monday the 

 27th of August, and in Roxburghshire on the evening of Tuesday the 28th. 

 On the 27th the coruscations were very rapid and transparent, and over- 

 spread nearly the whole northern hemisphere. Some of the flashes were 

 almost vertical ; and latterly they resembled, in clearness and motion, the 

 undulations of a bright flame. At one time the meteors formed themselves 

 into a narrow belt, crossing the heavens from east to west. 



11. Huurhf Meteorological Observations at Christiania and Drontheim. 

 — At Christiania we have begun, from the 1st of January of the present 

 year, a series of hourly observations of the thermometer and barometer, 

 taken by night and by day at two of the guard-houses of the town. A • 

 similar series will be executed next year at Drontheim, exactly in the 

 manner of the observations now carrying on at Leith Fort under the di- 

 rection of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. — Letter from Professor Han- 

 sieen to the Editor, June 30, 1827. 



12. Meteorological Phenomena observed at Plymouth on Sunday, July 

 29, 1827. — On the preceding evening the sea and the land were envelop- 

 ed in a copious mist. Therfe was a very light air from the south. This mist 

 was succeeded towards morning by a fresh east wind, which blew with a 

 force varying between two and three pounds avoirdupoise on a foot square 

 The barometer during the day, between 9 a. m. and 9 p. m. fell a quarter 

 of an inch. The dew point at 3 p. m. was 67 ° and the temperature of 

 the air 75° by Fahrenheit's thermometer. About 5 p. m., notwithstand- 

 ing the strong east wind which still prevailed on the surface, there ap- 

 peared above nearly an opposite current, vast banks of clouds being observ- 

 ed to proceed from the west and south. These clouds were principally mo- 

 difications of the cirrus cumulus and stratus, the cirro stratus prevailing. 

 The curl cloud was discernible in the zenith on a fine blue sky ; it seemed 

 like cotton wool violently electrified. At 8 p. m. a long continuous line 

 of cloud extended from the south-east to the north-west, from which pro- 

 ceeded several flashes of lightning, with distant thunder, both in the south- 

 east extremity toward the sea and also toward the west ; the distance, as 

 estimated by counting the interval which elapsed between the flash and 

 the sound, being about seven miles. The electrical flashes were now more fre- 

 quent and brilliant, and distinct sparks were observed to dart apparently up- 

 ward. There were likewise occasionally other luminous coruscations, not 

 unlike those which are observed to occur when the electric spark is passed 

 through an exhausted receiver. These appeared to dart for a short distance 

 along the inferior edge of the cloud, about its middle portion. The light- 

 ning in the south-east now became more frequent and vivid, but the rum- 

 bling noise of the thunder was very indistinct. About 9 p. m. the clouds 

 were more immediately over the town^ and some rain fell in large drops. 

 The wire of an electrical apparatus for investigating atmospheric electricity 

 became violently electrified, and the shocks from it were similar to those ' 

 of a powerful galvanic series. This apparatus evinced positive electricity. 



VOL. VII. NO. II. OCT. 1827. B b 



