* 



V. 



On the Secular Periodicity of the Aurora BoreaUs 



Br JOSEPH LOVE RING, 



HOLLIS PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS AND NATURAL PHILOSOPHY IN HARTARD COLLEGE. 



Communicated October 11th, 1859. 



It is said in Holmes's Annals of America* that the aurora was first seen in New 

 England on December 17, 1719. The historian refers to Dr. Trumbull's Century- 

 Sermon, preached at New Haven, on January 1, 1801, in which occurs the following 

 note : f — " The aurora borealis, or northern light, is a new appearance in the heavens 

 to this country, peculiar to the eighteenth century. It had been seen in Great Britain, 

 especially in the north of Scotland, for many centuries past ; but even in that country 

 it had not appeared for eighty or one hundred years, until March 6, J 1716. Its first 

 appearance in New England was on the 17th of December, 1719. It appears to have 

 been a great light, and began about eight o'clock in the evening. It filled the country 

 with the greatest alarm imaginable. It was the general opinion, that it was the sign 

 of the coming of the Son of Man in the heavens, and that the judgment of the great 

 day was about to commence. According to the accounts given by the ancient people 

 who were spectators of it, there was little sleep in New England that nigh- ' An 

 anonymous account of this aurora by an eyewitness, dated December 15, 1 7 1 .9, has 

 been republished in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society.§ The 

 author remarks in the first paragraph: "And I hope (though I believe I shall differ 

 from some) I shall say nothing that shall be inconsistent either with Divinity or Phi- 

 losophy" This aurora was seen from eight o'clock in the evening until an hour or 

 two before daybreak the next morning. Its appearance at eleven o'clock « was some- 

 what dreadful, — sometimes it looked of a flame, sometimes a blood-red color, -and 

 the whole northeast horizon was very light, and looked as though the moon had been 

 »» her rising" The description ends in these words: «Thns I have given you the 

 best account I am able of this meteor, which, though very unusual here, [is] yet in 



* Vol. I. p . 523. t Page 5. J Old Style. § ** * W « 7 " 20 " 



VOL. IX. 17 



