THE RETURN OF DAYLIGHT. 287 



At one A. M. faint aurora, chiefly in N. E. and W. 

 N. W. Lunar circle. At two A. M. very faint auroral 

 patches. At three, faint auroral glinnner in W. N. W. 

 The sun was raised by refraction above the horizon be- 

 fore six A. M. At eleven a. m. broken curtain arches 

 10° and 20° in altitude to N. E., extending from E. to 

 N. At twelve the auroral display is thus described by 

 Mr. Collins : " An exceptionally beautiful auroral dis- 

 play commenced shortly before midnight. From W. by 

 S. to N. E., and chiefly south of zenith from 10° to 15° 

 in altitude, an auroral band extended in a series of flat, 

 semi-elliptical curves opening to the northward. On 

 the inner or northward edge of the band it was bril- 

 liantly white, while the light faded down towards the 

 southern horizon to a pale, cloud-like intensity, in which 

 famt lines would occasionally show. To the north- 

 ward of the zenith very meagre bands of long stream- 

 ers hung across the sky. A peculiarity of the display 

 was the regularity with which the curves (which were 

 moving slowly along the band from W. to E.) broke 

 into rapid and distorted undulations when they arrived 

 at a point lying within the space apparently occupied 

 by the constellation Ursa Major. There the east end 

 of the curve would suddenly deepen and double back 

 sharply, while the aurora would be violently agitated, 

 and would show the prismatic colors w^ith extraordinary 

 vividness. Occasionally, the organization of the orig- 

 inal curve would be maintained, notwithstanding the 

 extraordinary rapidity of the movements around its mar- 

 gin ; but usually the curve was brokenj or seemed to 

 collapse, to be succeeded by forms in the zenith of out- 

 line indescribable because of the rapidity of the changes. 

 At timefe it seemed as if there w^ere two distinct strata 

 of aurora, the lower one being most agitated, so that 



