NORTHERN LIGHTS. 155 



called, a shooting star, directing its course towards them, 

 growing apparently larger and larger, till it disappeared not 

 far from them, and, disappearing, it left their faces, hands, 

 and clothes, with the earth, and neighbouring objects, sud- 

 denly illuminated with a diffused and lambent light, attend- 

 ed with no noise at all. He concluded this to be the effect 

 of electricity, because he had previously raised his kite, 

 and found the air very much charged with the electric matter : 

 sometimes he saw it advancing to his kite like a falling star^ 

 and sometimes he saw a kind of glory round it, which fol- 

 lowed it as it changed its place. 



Water-spouts are often seen in calm weather ; and the 

 sea seems to boil and send up smoke under them, rising in 

 a sort of hill towards the spout. A rumbling noise is often 

 heard at the time of their appearance, which happens gene- 

 rally in those months that are peculiarly subject to thunder- 

 storms, and they are commonly accompanied or followed by 

 lightning. When these approach a ship, the sailors present 

 and brandish their swords to disperse them, which seems to 

 favour the conclusion that they are electrical. The analogy 

 between water-spouts and electricity may be made visible by 

 hanging a drop of water to a wire, communicating with the 

 prime conductor, and placing a vessel of water under it. In 

 these circumstances, the drop assumes all the various ap- 

 pearances of a water-spout, in its rise, form, and mode of 

 disappearing. It is inferred, therefore, that the immediate 

 cause of this extraordinary phenomenon is the attraction of 

 the lower part of the cloud for the surface of the water. 



The northern light {Aurora BoreaUs) is an extraordinary, 

 meteor, or luminous appearance, showing itself in the night, 

 in the northern part of the heavens ; and most frequently in 

 frosty weather. It is usually of a reddish colour inclining to 

 yellow, and sends out frequent coruscations of pale light, 

 which seem to rise from the horizon in the form of a pyra- 

 mid with undulating motion, and shoot with great velocity 

 up to the zenith. This kind of meteor^ which is more un- 

 common as we approach towards the equator, appears with 

 the greatest lustre in the polar regions, and during the long 

 winter is almost constant. In Sweden and Lapland, the 

 northern lights are not only singularly beautiful in their ap- 

 pearance, but afford travellers by their almost constant ef- 

 fulgence a very beautiful light during the whole night. In 



