IVO Auroral Observations at JVeio Haven. 



which consists of a bank of light rising only a few degrees above the north- 

 ern horizon, he adds, " So far as I have learned^ scarcely any other has been 

 seen in JVeio England for 15 or 20 years pasty 



And again, on page 12th, having described the revival of the Aurora in 

 Great Britain, about the beginning of the last century, after an absence of 

 more than a hundred years, he adds, " It is said that the Aurora Borealis has 

 been occasionally seen in New England ever since its first settlement ; but 

 its appearance became more remarkable about the time of its return in so 

 extraordinary a manner in Europe. For 15 or 20 years past, they seem to 

 have lost their brilliancy, and generally present nothing for our admiration 

 but a regular zone of light extending along the Northern verge of the 

 horizon." 



The comparative infrequency of Auroras during the early part of the 

 present century, was a subject of general remark among meteorological 

 observers. In the Ladies' and Gentlemen's Diary for 1 821, published at New 

 York and edited by M. Nash, on page 79th, in noticing the aurora of Oct. 12, 

 1819, the editor remai-ks " The northern lights, or Aurora Borealis, for about 

 40 years, have appeared less frequently than heretofore. During a consider- 

 able part of this period, they have, for a number of years together, totally 

 disappeared. Within a few years of late, we have had a few exhibitions of 

 this sublime, and beautiful spectacle." 



When therefore a magnificent aurora made its appearance in August, 

 1827, it excited general surprise, and only aged people could remember 

 having seen an equally brilliant display. 



The Auroral obseiwations made in the neighborhood of Boston lead to 

 substantially the same conclusions as have been derived from the observa- 

 tions at New Haven. In the Memoirs of the American Academy, Vol. 9, 

 pp. 112-120, Prof Lovering has given a Catalogue of Auroras, observed 

 at Cambridge, Boston and Salem from 1742 to 1848. This list embraces 

 624 recorded auroras, of which, however, 79 are duplicates, leaving 545 in- 

 dependent auroras. Of these, 136 occurred on the same nights mentioned 

 in the New Haven registers, leaving 409 new cases not recorded at New 

 Haven, and making a total of 1222 difierent Auroras recorded in the com- 

 bined series of observations. The following Table exhibits a summary of 

 all the observations at both places from 1742 to 1839, counting the same 

 night but once, although it may have been mentioned in three or four inde- 

 pendent Journals. Since 1839, the Boston catalogue contains no date not 

 found in the New Haven catalogue. 



