OF THE AURORA BO REALIS. 7 



off Nova Scotia (lat. 42° 12' N., long. Go 9' W.), as reported by the British ship 

 Dalhousie Castle. The dark cloud remained until midnight. It was elevated 12 

 or 15 degrees above the horizon, and the space below it was occupied by a dense 

 haze. It was said that, at Utica, New York, sounds were heard attended by a sharp 

 snapping noise, like the discharge of an electrical battery. Peculiar sounds referred 

 to the aurora were also said to have been heard at this place (Yale College). One 

 of the students, indeed, was under the impression that he distinctly heard such 

 sounds, but I was unable, either on this or on any subsecpuent occasion, to detect 

 any sound which in my judgment could be fairly attributed to the aurora borealis. 

 The bow was seen as far south as Norfolk, in Virginia. It was also conspicuous in 

 Cincinnati, and was said in the newspapers published at that place to have been 

 the first occurrence of the aurora borealis in the southern part of Ohio, since the 

 first settlement of the country. At Montreal, on the previous evening, the 27th 

 (when only an aurora of the fourth class was seen at New Haven), the corusca- 

 tions are represented to have been "awfully grand," extending in broad columns 

 to the zenith, and even beyond it. At Perth, in Scotland, also, there was the 

 same evening (the 27th), a splendid exhibition of the aurora. The account given 

 of it in the Courier, a newspaper published at that place, will serve to indicate the 

 similarity of its appearances to those exhibited here on the following evening. 

 "One of the most brilliant and picturesque appearances (says the Courier) of the 

 aurora borealis ever seen in this quarter, exhibited itself on the evening of Mon- 

 day last. The coruscations were very rapid and transparent, and overspread 

 nearly the whole northern hemisphere. Some of the Hashes 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." 



The great aurora of August 28th, afforded to the existing generation the first 

 example they had seen of those flickerings, and rapid coruscations called Merry 

 Dancers. These continued until after midnight, and were accompanied by an 

 unusual frequency of shooting stars. 



On the 25th September, 1827, a great aurora was seen all over England. 1 It 

 does not, however, appear to have been equal in magnificence to some which were 

 seen here a few years later, and can therefore rank only in the second class. This 

 aurora was visible at Paris, accompanied by striking magnetic effects, although its 

 luminous phenomena were less imposing than in Scotland. According to M. Arago, 

 previous to this, no aurora had been witnessed at Paris for twenty years. 2 Also, a 

 splendid exhibition of the phenomenon occurred at Paris on the 28th of September, 

 described in the Journal cles Dehats, as tinging the sky with so fiery a hue as to 

 resemble a great conflagration, and call out bodies of firemen. According to the 



the aurora rested on a dark segment resembling a black cloud, but the bright star in the extremity of 

 the tail of the Great Bear ( n Ursa Majoris), then only three degrees above the horizon, shone with 

 undiminished lustre. 



' Brande's Journal, XXIV, 385. Phil. Mag., II, 375, and III, 75. 



5 Amer. Jour. Sei , XIV, 107. 



