300 On the Aurora Borealis in Summer. 
A display of the Aurora Borealis is often a very extensive phe- 
nomenon. That of February 18, 1837, which was seen in many 
parts of Europe, was also noticed here.* Prof. Christie, in his me- 
moir above cited, mentions its occurrence in England this year, 
May 19, June 24, July 1, 2, 7, and August 25. At this place, on 
the night of May 19, the sky was entirely overcast, and rain was 
falling: observation on the Aurora was of course impossible. On 
the 24th of June, there was an unusual display here and in Ver- 
mont. On the Ist of July, the exhibition was very grand, and 
nearly equal to any ever witnessed in this region.f A slight ap- 
pearance of it was seen on the 2d. The evening of the 7th was 
mostly overcast, and the moon was shining. No Aurora was de- 
tected, and none, unless uncommonly brilliant, could have been 
seen. On the 25th of August there was here a moderate display ; 
at Castleton, (Vermont) a corona was formed, and the whole exhi- 
bition was one of great brilliancy and beauty. 
It is greatly to be desired that careful contemporaneous observa- 
tions on the Aurora Borealis should be made by persons stationed at 
many different and distant places. Within the last two hundred 
years, a vast multitude of isolated accounts have been recorded, 
most of which are of comparatively little value to science. A tenth 
part of the labor which they have cost, had it been spent in well 
concerted contemporaneous observations in different parts of the 
world, would long ere this have contributed important data for a sat- 
isfactory theory. The most probable opinion is, that the Aurora is in 
some way a result of magneto-electric action, but the Jaws which 
govern its capricious appearances have thus far eluded all investi- 
gation. 
No facts have to my knowledge hitherto been published which 
throw any light on the question, whether during an appearance 
the Aurora in the United States, attended by a disturbance of the 
needle, a correspondent magnetic disturbance and auroral appeat- 
ance can be detected at about the same distance from the corres- 
ponding magnetic pole in New Holland. Is it too much to hope 
that some of the many American ships which traverse the Indian 
ocean, where opportunities for making the necessary observations 
must often occur, will hereafter bring home the desired information? 
New Haven, Conn. Nov. 11, 1837. 
* See this Journal, vol. xxxii. p. 396. t See p. 144 of this volume. 
