116 REV. JAMES FARQUHARSON ON THE AURORA BOREALIS. 



and Hawick ; at which places the fringe at Edinburgh, forty miles distant, 

 with high intervening land, might well be supposed, if only a few thousand feet 

 above the surface of the earth, not to have been sufficiently bright to excite 

 attention ; and accordingly it is not stated, that at Jedburgh or Hawick any 

 northern light was seen. The prolongation of a line a little south of Jedburgh 

 and Hawick, at right angles to the magnetic meridian, would pass veiy near 

 Dumfries ; and the fringe in this line might present in a " sky very clear" " a 

 few streamers, low in the horizon," to Mr. Harris at Cocke rmouth, about 

 thirty miles distant, across the valley of the Sol way. 



A comparison of the times and elevations leads to the inference, that only 

 one fringe was seen at Cockermouth, Keswick, and Whitehaven ; and this 

 fringe, when vertical over Keswick, might present the " splendid light that 

 was observable in the northern horizon" at Kendal, about twenty miles 

 distant. The same fringe or the eastern part of it might, in its progress 

 southward, hang over Kirkby Stephen at 9 P.M. 



A fourth distinct fringe might hang over Kendal between 8 and 9 o'clock ; 

 and a fifth over Lancaster, twenty miles further, at 8 o'clock ; — beyond which, 

 as there are no particulars from Preston, the phsenomena cannot be compared 

 with each other. 



There may, however, have been more fringes than these : but if there were 

 not, the circumstance would well account for there being no reports of similar 

 arches, seen the same evening, at many intermediate places of note, where the 

 arches reported would be resolved into common streamers, and so excite little 

 attention. 



Does there not arise an objection to Mr. Dalton's conclusion, that the arch is 

 one hundred miles high, from the circumstance that the light is often so brilliant 

 at the horizon, — as seen for instance by yourself on the 29th of September, 

 and many others, — at various times ? Were the arch one hundred miles high, 

 horizontal rays, coming from the lowest part of it, would enter the atmosphere 

 at nearly six hundred miles from the observer, and would have still about 

 two hundred miles of air to penetrate, after they had come within five miles 

 of the earth; without taking into account the refraction, which would increase 

 the distance considerably. Would not the light, therefore, considering that it 

 is at best but a relatively feeble one, be liable to a great or even total obscura- 



