RECORD OF AURORAL PHENOMENA. 3 



At first, as ray window overlooks tlie Bay of Toronto and the low island which separates it from 

 the lake, I took this singular pillar of light for the reflection from some steamboat on the clouds; 

 but, having sought the open air on the gallery, which commands a full view of the bay and of 

 Ontario, I was convinced that the meteor was an effluence of the sky, as I now saw it extend 

 upwards, from the eastern water horizon line to the zenith, in a well-defined, equal, broad column 

 of white, strong light, resembling in some degree that of the aurora, but of a steady brightness 

 and unchanging body, whilst there were few or no clouds. 



There was no moon, as on that day it rose at 2h. 4m., consequently it was dark, and, as the sky 

 was not very cloudy, the meteor was seen to the greatest advantage as the night wore on. 



It passed very slowly and bodily to the westward, continuing to occupy the space from the horizon 

 to the zenith, until the upper part first faded slowly, and then the whole gradually disappeared, 

 after it had reached nearly to due northeast. 



The weather was cold, and there was no wind. 



At twenty minutes past nine o'clock the pillar of light had vanished, but it immediately afterwards 

 reappeared slightly in the horizon where it had been last seen [due N. E.], and in the mean 

 time the constant auroral arch of the halos I have before mentioned, in Vol. XXX, 131, 

 became visible in the northern horizon, and increased very rapidly in brilliancy, and at ten 

 minutes to ten, gave so intense a glow to the sky that it was light enough to enable me to see 

 the objects around distinctly as in pale moonlight. It was, in short, equal to the light of the 

 moon at the end of the second quarter. 



The auroral arch rose very higli on this occasion, and then flattened, and at ten the double arch I 

 have already described was peculiarly beautiful, the darkness under it being singularly grand." — 

 Am. Jouru. Sci., XXXII, 393. 



X. 13. — A well-defined, equal, broad column of white, bright light. Appeared due east. 



Port Henry, two miles north of Crown Point, Lake Champlain. — Lat. 44° 5' N. 

 Long. ?3° 30' W. August 13, 1S3C. W. C. Redfield. 



"On the evening of the 13th (of August, 1S36), we were entertained with a brilliant exhibition of 

 the Aurora Bbrealis, which, between 7 and 8 p. m., shot upward in rapid and luminous corus- 

 cations from the northern half of the horizon, the whole converging to a point apparently fifteen 

 degrees south of the zenith. 

 This appearance was succeeded by luminous vertical columns or pencils, of the color, alternately, 

 of a pale red and a peculiar blue, which were exhibited in great beauty." — Am. Journ. Sci., 

 XXXIII, 302. 



N. B. — Rapid and luminous coruscations from the northern half of the horizon. Succeeded by 

 luminous vertical columns or pencils, colored, alternately, with red and a peculiar blue. 



St. John's, Newfoundland.— Lat. 41° 33' 33" N. Long. 52° 45' 10" W. Bonnycastle. 



" This phenomenon, but little investigated, and less known, is generally supposed to be the most 

 perfect the nearer we approach the arctic circle in our hemisphere ; but I have long doubted 

 that popular opinion. 



It may be more permanent in the higher latitudes, compensating for the single night of half a year's 

 duration ; but I believe, for I have seen it in very high latitudes, when a young man, in the 

 Northern Seas, that it is more splendid in Western Canada and in Newfoundland, than nearer 

 to the pole. There are circumstances connected with its appearance in the latter country, which 

 tend to upset another generally received notion. 



It has been seen here, at St. John's, visibly close to the observer. One gentleman saw it between 

 his house and Quiddy-Biddy Pond, a lake about a mile long, near the svulh ban/: of which his 

 dwelling is erected, on a slope of Signal Hill. 



