106 



SECULAR 



whether it sustains the European history of the aurora for the last three centuries. I 

 have mentioned the surprise excited in New England by the aurora of 1719. After 

 such a commencement, there are scattered accounts of the aurora during the remainder 

 of the century. Mr. Greenwood, then Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural 

 Philosophy in Harvard College, described an aurora seen at Cambridge on November 

 2, 1730. His successor, Professor John Winthrop,* has recorded nine exhibitions of it 

 between 1741 and 1757. Mr. Caleb Gannett f mentions an aurora, accompanied by an 



Manasseh Cutler 

 een at Salem on 



east and west arch, which was seen at Cambridge on March 27, 1781. 



noticed the aurora repeatedly at Ipswich in 1781.J Auroras were i 



November 17 and 24, 1720, on January 1 and October 2, 1728, and an extraordinary 



one on October 22, 1730. On December 29, 1736 (probably), Dr. Holyoke witnessed 



of which he says : " The first aurora borealis I ever saw 



The northern sky 



appeared suffused by a dark blood-red colored vapor, without any variety of different 

 colored rays. I have never seen the like. Northern lights were then a great novelty, 

 and excited great wonder and terror." On August 6, 1768, a bright streak of light 

 extended from the west northwest to the southeast, almost as bright as a rainbow. 



On 



July 19, 1769, there was an aurora of 



brightn 



On April 21, 1750, the 



far south 



Charleston, S. C. One who beheld it has given the 



of the aurora 



following description : — " We had a most extraordinary appearance 

 borealis. One half of the sky seemed like a beautiful streaked liquid flame, so terrible 

 to many of the female inhabitants that some of them were thrown into fits." || Auroras 

 were observed at Cambridge by Professor Williams, in co-operation with the Meteorologi- 

 cal Society of the Palatinate, during its brief period of activity. 



of Williams College, observed 



Professor C. Dewey, 

 on May 23 and 28, 1818 ; also from June 

 6 to June 10, on September 24 and 25, and on October 6 and 7 of the same year. 



It is well known to many members of this Academy, that Dr. Holyoke, of Salem, kept 

 a Meteorological Journal from 1754 to 1828. That part which relates to the weather 

 has already been published in the Memoirs of the Academy. I have consulted the 

 manuscript records of Dr. Holyoke, which he presented to the Academy, and have 

 selected from them all the auroras he has observed and recorded. Unfortunately, the 

 copy in possession of the Academy is not the original, until the year 1786 ; and, being 

 prepared for a special purpose, it does not contain any notice of auroras, if, indeed, any 

 were observed before 1786. But the Academy also possesses the original manuscript 



* Amer. Journ. Sci., XL. 204. 

 t Men. Amer. Acad., II. 136. 

 \ Mem. Amer. Acad., I. 366. 



§ Felt's History of Salem, II. 137. 

 || Gent. Mag., XX. 418, and XXI. 39 



