THE AURORA BOREALIS 



THE Northern Lights, or the Merry Dancers, as they are 

 often called, must have attracted attention in our country 

 ever since it was inhabited. But whether owing to their 

 frequent appearance they escaped chronicling, or whether 

 records of natural phenomena were regarded as unim- 

 portant, I can find no mention of them in Scottish records. 

 South of the border and across the English Channel 

 mention is occasionally made of them ; for in these more 

 southern regions their occurrence was sufficiently un- 

 common for the display to attract attention. They were 

 often supposed to portend disaster. An account of an aurora 

 seen in London in 1560 likens it to ' burning spears ' : 



1 Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds, 

 In ranks and squadrons and right form of war.' 



An aurora was described by Cornelius Genune, Professor 

 at Lou vain, in 1575 ; several were seen by Michael Mestlin, 

 tutor to the famous Kepler, in 1580; and in April and 

 September 1581, and in September 1621, brilliant auroras 

 were chronicled. From that date until 1707 there is no 

 mention of an aurora having been seen. 



It has long been known that the compass-needle, which 

 usually points northward, and is inclined at an angle to 

 the horizon (or is said to ' dip '), becomes disturbed and 

 oscillates when an aurora is seen in the sky. It was the 

 celebrated Halley 1 who, in 1714, hazarded the bold con- 

 jecture that the aurora was therefore a magnetic pheno- 



1 Philosophical Transactions, xxix. No. 341. 



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