NATURAL HISTORY OF VERMONT. 



Part 2, 



MEW ENGLAND EARTHQUAKES. 



AURORA BOREALIS- 



appearance at a point a little north of 

 west at an elevation of about 35°, passed 

 the meridian at a considerable distance 

 north of the zenith and disappeared in the 

 northeast with an altitude of about 2.3''. 

 He thought its apparent magnitude to be 

 8 or 10 times that of the moon, and that 

 it was visible about 10 seconds. It was 

 of a fiery red color, brightest when it first 

 appeared, and gradually decreased in brill- 

 iancy, all the time tlirovving off sparks, 

 till it disappeared. About 4 minutes af- 

 ter the vanishing of the meteor, a rumb- 

 ling or rattling sound, which sensibly 

 agitated the surface of the lake, com- 

 menced in the point where the meteor 

 was first seen, and following the course 

 of the meteor died away at the point where 

 the meteor vanished. This meteor was 

 vertical on a north and south line, about •">() 

 miles to the northward of Derby in tliis 

 state, or nearly over Shipton in Canada, 

 and its altitude must have been at least 

 30 miles, and still the agitation it pro- 

 duced in the atmos])here was such as to 

 break consideral)le quantities of glass in 

 the windows at Shi])lon, Melbourne and 

 some other placi's. The course of tiiis 

 meteor was mostly over an unsettled 

 country. Tlie most remarkable circum- 

 stances attending this meteor were the 

 train of smoke which it left behind, and 

 the long continued noise and shaking of 

 the earth. 



Since the settlement of New England, 

 there have been recorded a considerable 

 number of earthquakes, and several have 

 been noticed in Vermont. The sound 

 accompanying these is usually described 

 as having a progressive motion ; and that, 

 and the shaking of th(! earth have been 

 supposed to be produced by the rushing of 

 steam through the cavities in the interior 

 of the earth, but tlic effect known to have 

 been produced by the meteor last de- 

 scribed, furnishes strong reasons for sus- 

 pecting that the cause of many, and per- 

 haps of all the earthquakes which have 

 occurred in New England, has been in 

 the atmosphere above instead of the earth 

 beneath. Had this meteor passed with- 

 out being seen, the sound and shaking of 

 the earth, which it produced, would have 

 been regarded as a real earthquake, and 

 its origin in the atmosphere would not 

 have been suspected. 



Jlurora Borealis. — This meteor has been 

 very common in Vermont, ever since the 

 first settlement of the state ; but in some 

 years it is of more frequent occurrence, 

 and exhibits itself in a more interesting 

 and wonderful manner than in others. Its 

 mostcommon appearance is thatof streams 

 of white liglit shooting up from near the 



horizon towards a point not far from the 

 zenith; but at times it assumes forms as- 

 various and fantastic as can well be im- 

 agined, and exhibits all the colors of the 

 rainbow. It is not uncommon tliat it take* 

 the form of concentric arches spanning the 

 heavens from west to east, usually at the 

 north, but sometimes passing througii the 

 zenith, or even at considerable distance 

 to tjie south of it. At times the meteor is 

 apj>arently motionless, but it is not an un- 

 common thing for it to exhibit a violent 

 undulating motion like the whipping of a 

 flag in a brisk wind. But it is so variable 

 in its apjjearance, that it is vain to attempt 

 its description. We will, however, men- 

 tion a few of the remarkable occurrences 

 of this meteor which have fallen under 

 our ow^n observation, and some of the at- 

 tending circumstances. 



On tl)e 12th of October, I81f>, at about 

 7 o'clock in the evening, the Aurora Bo- 

 realis assumed the form of three luminous 

 resplendant arches, completely spanning 

 the heavens front west to cast. The low- 

 est arch was in the north a little below 

 the pole star, the second about midway 

 between the pole star and the zenith, and 

 the third 10° or 15° to the southward of 

 the zenith. These belts gradually spread 

 out till they became blended with each 

 other, and the whole concave heavens was 

 lit up with a soft and beautiful glow of 

 white light. It would then concentrate 

 to particular points whose brightness 

 would equal that of an ordinary par- 

 helion, and around them would be exhib- 

 ited the prismatic colors melting into each 

 other in all their mellow loveliness. The 

 motions of the meteor were rapid, undu- 

 latory and from north to south varying a 

 little towards the zenith. The sky was 

 clear and of a deep blue color where it 

 was not overspread by the meteor. It was 

 succeeded in the morning of the 13th by 

 a slight fall of snow with a northwest 

 wind. The aurora exhibited itself in a 

 manner very similar to the above in the 

 evening of the 3d of April, 1S20, and sev- 

 eral times since. 



But the most remarkable exhibition of 

 this meteor, which has fallen under our 

 own observation, was in the evening of the 

 2.")th of January, 1S37. It first attract- 

 ed our attention at about half ))ast 6 

 o'clock in the evening. It then consisted 

 of an arch of faint red light extending 

 from the northwest and terminating nearly 

 in the east, and crossing the meridian 15 

 or 20" north of the zenith. Tliis arch 

 soon assumed a bright red hue and grad- 

 ually moved towards the south. To the 

 northward of it, the sky was nearly black, 

 in which but few stars could be seen. Next 



