396 New Pate7its. 



apparently stationarj^ in the N.E. by E. point, and its eastern red 

 edge was very well defined in the dark blue sky. Two more co- 

 lumns of light nearly similar in colour and width soon afterwards 

 sprang up, one in due North, the other in N.W., and passed the 

 zenith several degrees to the southward : these three large varie- 

 gated columns presented a very grand appearance. 



At half-past eleven the aurora suddenly changed to light red ; 

 and from about this time till twelve o'clock the apex of the arc of 

 light was within four or five degrees of the polar star; consequently 

 the hemisphere from N.E. by E. to S.W. by W. was so brilliantly 

 illuminated as to appear like the reflection of a great conflagration, 

 whilst the white coruscations which flashed through the atmosphere 

 quicker than sheet-lightning in sultry summer evenings, formed 

 whole but irregularly-shaped arclies from these points of the ho- 

 rizon through the zenith nearly. At one a.m. lofty perpendicular 

 columns emanated from the aurora in the western point ; and at 

 this time the northern hemisphere was filled with long and short 

 streamers varying in width and brilliancy, and often terminating 

 in ver)' pointed forms. The coruscations from the N.E. and W. 

 frequently met each other in the zenith, and enlightened the scat- 

 tered portions of cirrostratus even to within thirty degrees of the 

 southern horizon ; and from the clouds being stationary, it is pro- 

 bable that the atmosphere was serene and undisturbed in their vi- 

 cinity. Soon after 2 a.m. the aurora grew faint and gradually dis- 

 appeared. The lustre of the stars of the first, second, and third 

 magnitude was very little diminished in any part of the heavens 

 where the vivid flashes of the aurora intervened. The diffusion of 

 the coruscations through the atmosphere caused twelve accensions 

 or meteors to appear at intervals in different quarters, but most of 

 them were to the northward ; and it also had the effect of increas- 

 ing the temperature of the external air near the ground half a de- 

 gree between the hours of observation, notwithstanding the wind 

 blew fresh from the South. This was the finest aurora borealis 

 that has been observed here during the last seventeen years. In 

 sixteen hours after its disappearance, heavy rain and a gale of wind 

 came on from S.E. by E. (to which quarter the coruscations mostly 

 tended) ; the common result here of the diffusion of a superabun- 

 dance of electrical fluid in the lower atmosphere. An aurora bo- 

 realis of extraordinary beauty is reported to have been seen all over 

 Denmark in the night of the 8th instant, while the moon shone in 

 full splendour. 



LIST OF NEW PATENTS. 



To Joseph Hall, and Thomas Hall, of Leeds, for an improvement 

 in the making of metallic blocks for drawing off liquids. — Dated the 

 11th of October 1827- — 2 months allowed to enrol specification. 



To Elias Carter, of Exeter, for a new covering for the roofs of 

 houses, &c. — 11th of October. — 6 months. 



To Joshua Horton, of West Bromwich, boiler-raaker, for a new 

 method of forming and making of hollow cylinders, guns, ordnance 



retorts, 



