METEOROLOGICAL APPEARANCES. 36 



the" luminous bands appear very soon after the first commencement 

 of the Aurora, and thus are frequently unseen by observers, who 

 perceiving the Aurora in the north are unsuspicious of a previous 

 display of superior brightness. Thus in the " Tabular Conspectus 

 of Observations on the Aurora of the 12th of October, 1833," pub- 

 lished by the British As«ociation for the Advancement of Science, 

 out of nine observers whose records are given, only two notice the 

 extraordinary appearance adverted to, Mr. R. Potter, jun., and Mr. 

 J. PhilUps, of York, The latter thus mentions it j — " 6, 44. 

 By this time the doubt was entirely removed : beams had been 

 seen playing, and bright fluctuating light was at intervals excited 

 at detached points along an arch rectangled to the magnetic meridian, 

 as if along this line thin vapourous clouds or smoke-wreaths were 

 illuminated from behind." Mr. Potter says, that " at 41^ m. past 

 6, there was a long and large streamer directed towards the zenith," 

 I am not quite certain that he means the luminous arch before 

 described, as he does not state the period of its continuance. Dr. 

 Forster considered the arch of 1828 was occasioned by the passage 

 of electric matter at a vast height in the atmosphere, the brilliant 

 appearance being visible to the whole of Europe. 



I shall now proceed to describe the succeeding appearances pre- 

 sented by the Aurora of October 12th. At half-past eight in the 

 evening, as I was proceeding along the new road toward St. Johns, 

 I was struck by the appearance of a broad semicircular belt of 

 white light stretching across the northern side of the heavens. Its 

 breadth was considerable, its height about 18 degrees, and the 

 vertex of the arch was nearly in the magnetic meridian. The 

 sketch I have made will give a tolerably accurate idea of its appear- 

 ance at this time. Below the luminous zone, the sky down to the 

 horizon was of a very remarkable dark dirty grey colour, somewhat 

 similar to a fog in winter, when the sun's rays are entirely inter- 

 cepted.* This nearly resembles the Aurora Borealis as represented 

 by De Capel Brooke, in his journey through Lapland. While 

 attentively observing the luminous bow, brilliant radii shot up 

 from the convexity of the arch, varying in breadth and in the time 

 of their duration, but generally disseminating themselves over the 

 hemisphere in very narrow wavy streaks. The arch itself rather 

 undulated, and appeared considerably brighter at one time than 

 another. About 9 o'clock the western limb seemed to shift its 

 position, and point somewhat towards the south. I noticed also a 

 very distant luminous cloud on the eastern horizon, for which 

 at the time I could not account, but it is probable it was the relics 



* Professor Sedgewick, who observed this Aurora at Dent, in Yorkshire, thus 

 remarks — " 9. 25, Arch nearly as before, its lower edge better defined, breadth 

 nearly equal to the distance between the pointers of Ursa Major, and the upper 

 pointer was nearly in the centre of the bright space between the upper and lower 

 curves. The vertex still nearly in the magnetic meridian. Below the luminous 

 zone, sky down to the horizon was of a most remarkable dark dirty grey colour, 

 through which Arcturus was seen to shine dimly, as if through a fog." Tab. Con" 

 spectus of British Association, 



