72 WRITINGS OP JOSEPH HENRY. [1832 



Besides this, the co-incidences occurred on the evenings when 

 the aurora was most brilliant, and consequently when its 

 action might be supposed most extensive. These simulta- 

 neous appearances of the meteor in Europe and America 

 would therefore seem to warrant the conclusion, that the 

 aurora borealis cannot be classed among the ordinary local 

 meteorological phenomena, but that it must be referred to 

 some cause connected with the general physical principles 

 of the globe; and that the more energetic actions of this 

 cause, whatever it may be, affects simultaneously a great 

 portion of the northern hemisphere. 



