A rirTTRK IN IMF. KOSMOS. 



the romantic gorge of the Churnet, however, a thick white fog-band 

 was heaving and swelling, nurtured as it were by the cold air pouring 

 down from the watersheds, and condensing the vapours reeking 

 from the river. Towards the pine-clad crests of the old Bunter Beds, 

 just beyond, the crescent moon was bending ; and so clear was our at- 

 mosphere above, that, notwithstanding its oblique thickness, the other 

 parts of her voiceless tracts, bathed in the pale reflected light of earth, 

 were thrown out against the shadowing twilight in a relief strikingly bold 

 and strange to the eye ; and the telescope showed up the low-lying plains 

 in black contrast with the higher regions reflecting again the earth- 

 shine. Venus, in her incrca ing loveliness, following as though in the 

 wake of our satellite, with Jupiter and Saturn in the rear, formed a 

 panoramic picture in our System of exquisite beauty : — soulless indeed 

 must have been he who did not pause and admire. Soon, about 6 15, 

 a bright glow appeared in the north -we^t *ky. spreading over in an ellip- 

 tical patch past Cygnus, developing next a nucleus of a purple tint, and 

 throwing out ultimately a branch of auroral light towards Venus. Next 

 the whole northern sky became lit up with an electric glare, and about 

 G 30 a magnificent aurora streamed from the horizon, yet in fitful pul- 

 sations, giving out detached quivering patches to the zenith, and even 

 beyond Capella. I was now in the valley ; but on ascending the oppo- 

 site hill, a bank of dark slaty purple, low in the northern sky, became 

 distinctly visible, and from it the streamers shot up towards the zenith, 

 now with a steady glow, the next moment to shoot back— a few tremu- 

 lous throbs and detached cones of fluttering light — and again the rays 

 would burst forth, skimming the heavens in all their splendour. The 

 nucleus of the display was soon seen to be about the magnetic pole, 

 though the rays shot up from below Regulus to the vicinity of Altair. 

 and a diffused gleam of light marked even the south-west sky. Near 

 seven o'clock the display faded, but patches and sheaves of lustre still 

 flickered in the north-west, and a spreading light-flush lingered for long 

 in that quarter. 



That auroral displays result from magnetic disturbances due to in- 

 creased action in the sun there can now be but little doubt. I am in the 

 habit of scanning the sun's face daily when fine, with a 2|in. clear 

 aperture, and my notes, so far, certainly point to the auroral light being 

 cotemporary with an increase of spots. On the morning of the 1st 

 February, after the aurora, five main spot regions were noted, viz. :— 

 two centres approaching the west limb, with both umbra and penum- 

 bra, split up portions and stipplings ; a broken up group further north, 

 an isolated spot near the suu's centre, and a most interesting group in 

 perspective with f acuta, very marked, coming up on east limb ; indi- 

 cating, doubtless, gigantic Btorma ; and an awful, roaring rush of currents, 

 of which the imagination can form but a faint idea, piercing and tear- 

 ing asunder the gaseous envelopes, and heaping up the photosphere 

 around the disturbed areas, Cuncam L, Wbaooe, Parley. 



