1862.] (33 [Lesley. 



it had reached a distance of apparently half a mile or a mile (it may 

 have been more, however, as we had no means of accurate judgment), 

 when we became aware of the passage over us of a second curtain, 

 which soon occupied the place of the first, and went floating off after 

 it towards the north ; the interval between them apparently remain- 

 ing constant, but the brilliancy and definiteness of the second being 

 inferior to the first. And not long afterwards a third passed over 

 us and followed in the rear of the other two, inferior also to the 

 second. We gazed with astonishment and delight upon all three 

 together, until they became an indistinctly defined common aurora 

 in the north. Soon afterwards the clouds increased; the fog be- 

 came denser ; the light in the northern heavens was broken by bars 

 and patches of black, and we retired into the house. 



I am curious to learn whether in any part of the United States or 

 Canada an aurora was seen on the evening named, and whether any- 

 thing unusual was noticed in its appearance. But my belief is, that 

 the phenomenon was modified to the folded curtain form in that 

 particular locality, by reason of the peculiar parallel structure of the 

 front part of the fog-bank which that night took possession of the 

 surface of Cape Breton at its eastern end. Professor Stephen Alex- 

 ander of Princeton informs me that this form of aurora was fre- 

 quently seen by him on the coast of Labrador. 



Prof. Henry described an aurora wliicli he saw on the 4th 

 of August last, at the Smithsonian Institution. 



Prof. Bache referred to Mr. Espy's observations of auroras, 

 by which he proved that the trigonometrical calculations or 

 determinations of their heights by parallax were unreliable, 

 and adduced instances to show that different observers do not 

 behold the same phenomenon at the same moment. 



Dr. Wood described the effects of lightning upon Dr. W^is- 

 tar's house, north of Philadelphia. 



Pending nominations Nos. 456 to 465 were read. 

 And the Society was adjourned. 



