74 On the sound which accompanies the Aurora Borealis. 

 The final results in view are as follows : 



Apparent Time. 



D. H. ' " 



Begins at Edinburgh, - - Nov. 29 9 45 18,21 a.m. 



Greatest obscuration, - - - 10 49 15,91 



Apparent conjunction, - - - 10 50 23,79 



End of the eclipse, - - - 1154 56,46 



D. 



Digits eclipsed at greatest obscuration, - 6 57 52,56 on 



the north part of the sun's disc. 



The moon will make the first impression on the sun's limb 

 39° 54' 30" from his zenith to the right hand. 



I am, Sir, 

 Your most humble servant, 



Geo. Innes. 



Art. XIV. — Observations relative to the Sound tohich accom- 

 panies the Aurora Borealis. 



That the phenomena of the Aurora Borealis were accompanied 

 with a whizzing sound, resembling the discharge of electricity 

 from a pointed conductor, was, for a long time, considered 

 as an undeniable fact in science. During the late expeditions, 

 however, to the Arctic Regions, and during Mr Scoresby's nu- 

 merous voyages to Greenland, the Northern Lights were not 

 heard to emit any sound ; and since that time it has been 

 very generally supposed, that preceding observers must have 

 been mistaken. 



We do not mean to array, in opposition to this opinion, the 

 body of evidence which has been recorded in favour of the op- 

 posite one. It may be sufficient to state, that Gmelin speaks 

 of the hissing noise of the Aurora Borealis in the most pointed 

 terms, and represents it as not only frequent but very loud 

 in the north-eastern parts of Siberia, and that M. Cavallo 

 distinctly heard more than once a sort of crackling noise ac- 

 companying the coruscations of the Aurora when they were 

 strong. 



At a later period, and during the brilliant Aurora which ap- 

 peared at Edinburgh on the 5th December 1801, the same 

 noise was distinctly heard by Dr Brewster, who, at that time, 

 published the following description of it • 



