132 Account of an Aurora Borealis. 



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inexplicable mazes, but proceeds from the northern horizon, over which 

 a pale, luminous, low, and depressed arch embracing an extent of from 

 sixty to ninety degrees, is commonly thrown. This arch is gener- 

 ally luminous in its whole body, not on the rim or verge only, which 

 fades away into ethereal space, but from its superior circumference 

 to the chord formed by the horizon itself, and varies in its elevation, 

 from ten to fifteen and twenty degrees. Wherever it embraces 

 stars, these luminaries are either veiled or dimly seen, being strong- 

 ly contrasted on a fine star light night, with their fellow orbs of the 

 southern heavens, which appear to shine out with double brilliancy. 

 Within the space comprehended by this arch of light, continual 

 changes are operating, if the Aurora assumes a splendid shape. 

 Dark volumes of vapor, not like clouds, but blackening in a moment, 



* 



rise and fall, whenever a ray or an interior arc begins to form, and it 

 is remarkable, that this darkness usually accompanies the commence- 

 ment of every change in the scene, thereby increasing the majesty 

 and beauty, as well as the brilliancy of the spectacle. 



But it is impossible for any pen adequately to describe a phenome- 

 non, which is continually presented in these regions, and it is with 

 diffidence that I continue a task imposed on myself. It will, there- 

 fore, be more satisfactory to detail the circumstances attending a very 

 recent repetition of one of the most beautiful of those which have 

 been seen at Kingston this winter, nearly the whole of which I saw, 

 and whatever escaped me was related by a very accurate observer. 



On the evening of the 11th of December, 1835, the sky, after 

 the sun had sunk, was dark and gloomy, and although there were 

 but few clouds visible, and the stars were rapidly brightening, a 

 change of weather was apparent. Snow had fallen, for the first time, 

 on Wednesday, the 8th, after a short space of great cold, to the depth 

 of about five inches, and the thermometer had sunk afterwards to 

 16°, at which it stood on Monday, the 13th. On Tuesday, it rose 

 to 30°, and rain in abundance falling, removed the snow entirely. 

 It was exactly midway between the extreme cold and the thaw, that 

 the Aurora took place, the thermometer at the time standing at about 

 26°, and the wind, a gentle breeze from the north west. The ba- 

 rometer stood at 29.9, at 9 P. M., at an elevation of forty feet above 

 the lake, which is two hundred and nineteen feet above the sea.* 



* The barometrical observations were made at the Hospital on Point Henry, by 

 a very accurate observer. On the 10th of December, it indicated, at 9 A. M. 295, 

 at 9 P. M. 29.7; on the 11th, at 9 A. M. 29.8, at 9 P.M. 29.9; on the 12th, at 9 

 A.M. 30.1, at 9 P.M. 30.1. 



