Nev> Patents. — Aurora Borealis. 317 



To Lemuel Wellman Wright, of Upper Kennington-lane, Surrey, 

 engineer, for i.nprovenients in machinery for makuig metal screws. 

 _1 7th of March.— 6 months. ,. , . j- i 



To Benjamin llotch, of Furnival's Inn, esqmre, for his diagonal 

 prop for transferring perpendicular to lateral pressure.— 2ind ot 



March.— 6 months. r, ^r ^ ■ r » 



To James Stewart, of Store-street, Bedford-square, piano-forte- 

 maker, for improvements on piano-fortes, and in the mode ot 

 stringing the same.— '2'2nd of March.— 6 months. 



To James Woodman, of Piccadilly, perfumer, for his improve- 

 ment in shaving and other brushes.— '^'.^nd of March.— 6 months. 



To James Perkins, of Fleet-street, engineer, for improvements in 

 the construction of steam-engines.— 22nd of March.— 6 months. 



AURORA BOREALIS. 

 At six o'clock on the evening of the 1 3th at Gosport, a light appeared about 

 the magnetic North, which increased in brilliancy and gradimlly e.xtended 

 at each end for several hours. The increasing of the arch ot light, with 

 some faint coruscations from its vertex between seven and eight o clock 

 determined it to be the Northern Lights. Soon after eight the light reached 

 to the two bright stars Beta and Gamma in the head of Z)/-aco an altitude 

 of ]4 de'^rees. By half-past nine the eastern end ot the hght had ex- 

 tended to the N.E. by N. point of the horizon; its extension to^vards the 

 East was gradual, as at first it was contained between the N. and N.W by 

 \V pointb. Soon after nine it was at its greatest extent ; viz. upwards ot 

 90 de-rees, and the stars « Lyra ( Vega) and « Cygni (Deneh) were the most 

 conspicuous in the Aurora. From a quarter before ten till about ten minutes 

 past, the Aurora Borealis appeared in its greatest splendour, and it would 

 have been more beautiful had not a dark cirrodratus cloud sprung up 

 and intercepted a great part of it. At this thne the northern hemisphere 

 was in a blaze, and no atmospheric phajnoinenon could exceed the grandeur 

 of the pale red columns suddenly emanating from circular patches ot in, 

 tense light, which broke out in almost every part of the arch, like erup- 

 tions from a volcano ; some of these perpendicular columns were short, 

 where the patches were small, and the others so long as to reach to 

 within two or three degrees of Polaris, an altitude of 48 degrees Irom the 

 northern horizon. The height of these electrical columns on mixing with 

 the superior stratum of air caused several accensions or falling meteors, 

 which are common accompaniments of the vivid Northern Lights, bj 

 half-iiast ten tlie clouds had extended nearly all over the Aurora; yet it 

 was distinguished between them at intervals till halt-past eleven, halt an 

 hour alter the moon had risen. There was no appeararice ot it on the 

 subsequent evenings. A brisk gale came on soon after this phenomenon, 

 but did not arrive at its greatest force till the 22nd Jhe last Aurora 

 Borealis observed here, was near midnight on the 25th ot March 1»*1. 



At 8 o'clock in the evening of the 17th of February, a bright light ap- 

 peared 10 degrees above the northern horizon, and 20 degrees on each side 

 of the nia-netic North ; and from a (luarter past \) till twenty ininutes to 

 10 o'clock, several vivid patches of light appeared at intervals m the Aurora, 

 frmn which perpendicular columns emanated ; but their altitudes could not 

 be determined, in consequence of intervening black clouds, horn which at 

 10 o'clock a sprinkling of .now debccnded, and the Aurora rather suddenly. 

 ' disappeared 



