On the Meteors of 13th November. 359 
any considerable degree susceptible of magnetism. It is then prob- 
able, thatthe columns of the meteor are at least in a great measure 
composed of metallic thi reduced to powder of extreme fine- 
ness. 
“If columns consisting in part of metallic substances + are sus 
ded in nearly a vertical position in the atmosphere, like the columns 
of the aurora borealis when they float over regions adjacent to the 
pole, the electricity of the atmospheric strata at the summit and base 
of the columns will find in them so many conductors more or less 
perfect, and if this tendency of electricity to diffuse itself uniformly 
is sufficient to overcome the resistance arising from the imperfect 
conducting power of the columns, it will flow along these columns, 
illuminating its path, as is often observed in conductors which are not 
continuous. When this passage takes place in the higher regions of the 
atmosphere, where the air, on account of its rarity, offers very little 
resistance, the electricity will flow on silently with all those varia- 
tions of light, which we observe in exhausted tubes. But if it ex- 
tends itself to the inferior strata, it must necessarily occasion such 
hissing and crackling noises, as are found to meinetty: the aurora 
borealis, when it descends near the surface of the earth.” __ 
In the following paragraph one would be Jed to suppose that ae 
thor was describing the same cieeeacargee as that observed in this 
country on the 13th instant. 
“ But, independently of the Laeninciek jets which may hunks pro- 
duced by the simple passage of electricity along the metallic columns, 
a passage which in virtue of a property lately discovered, might of | 
itself be sufficient to magnetize these columns; we can hardly help 
considering the phenomena in question as proceeding from an actual 
combustion in the phosphoric clouds, which, detaching themselves in 
some cases from the burning meteor, as affirmed by many observers, 
and as I have myself seen, transport with them the principle of their 
phosphorescence, and emit at intervals jets of light resembling rock- 
ets, which leave after them a whitish train. We must then regard 
it as at least a very probable supposition, that the aurora borealis is 
composed of substances, capable occasionally of inflammation, either 
of a spontaneous kind, or in consequence of a discharge of electri- 
city from the clouds which contain it.” 
My object is not to defend this beautiful hypothesis, but simply to 
show that the resemblances between the aurora borealis and the phe- 
nomenon in question are so striking, as to justify us in referring both 
