Mr \\'illiaiii Sturgeon uii the Aurora Boreulis. \ol 



defined that they formed, whilst the line was conipkte, a beautiful 

 arch, the highest point of which was considerably higlier that the 

 Pole-star; but their lower parts shot downwards in variously -pointed 

 terminations, like a series of inverted streamers, and were lost, at 

 many different ahitudes, amongst the stars, but never reached so low 

 as the northern glow of light. Like the former group, these beams 

 or columns sprang into existence individually, and in regular succes- 

 sion, from the same source, near the tail of the Great Bear, and took 

 up the line of march from the commencement of their respective 

 births, so that the individuals forming the moving line were every 

 one of a different age, the foremost the eldest, and all the rest in the 

 order of succession, from front to i-ear ; and they appeared to vanish 

 in the same order of succession, at a point in the heavens close upon 

 the plantt Venus, so that the last which sprang into existence in the 

 east, kept its position in the rear of the line all the way to the west, 

 and was the last that was seen, individually, in this part of the aerial 

 spectacle. But this was not the conclusion of the scene ; for in- 

 stead of these luminous beams vanishing entirely, in the manner of 

 the previous group, they seemed to assemble, in a close compact 

 body, in the west, where they disappeared as individuals, and to form 

 a broad luminous streak, which reached downwards almost to the 

 horizon, and which, for a while, increased in splendour and dimen- 

 sions in proportion to the number of beams assembled. This extra- 

 ordinary streak of light continued in full splendour for about two 

 minutes, when it began to waver; and its gradual decrease in both 

 intensity and dimensions, until its final disappearance, formed the 

 closing part of this second grand act of the meteoric drama, 



We now come to the last, and by far the most magnificent spec- 

 tacle of the whole. It began about ten o'clock. Its general cha- 

 racter was similar to that last described, but its splendour and dura- 

 tion far exceeded it. The luminous beams, in this case, issued, as 

 before, from a point in the heavens near to the tail of the Great 

 Bear, at that time a considerable height above the north-eastern hori- 

 zon, and formed an arched line of march (for a march it leally was) 

 above the Pole-star, reaching exactly to the Pleiades westward. The 

 length of these auroral beams was greater than that of the last de- 

 scribed group, and terminated, both upwards and downwards, in the 

 manner that streamers usually terminate upwards. These aerial 

 spectres seemed to form a division of grenadiers, when compared with 

 the hosts that had preceded them, not only with respect to their 

 magnitude, but also as regards the stateliness of their movement, 

 which was truly solemn and majestic, and well calculated to furnish 

 the sublimest imagery for the poet, and to store the imagination of 

 the superstitious with the most awful portentions. From the well- 

 known interpretations which the ancients have given to ceitain ap- 

 pearances of the aurora borealis, some persons have been led to think 



