278 Aurora Borealis of November 14, 1837. 



utes another arch of white light partially formed in the southern 

 sky, rising about 10° above Fomalhaut, and having nearly the 

 same direction with the preceding. This arch was never com- 

 plete, and soon vanished entirely. The great arch I have before 

 described, brightened up again, in very nearly the same position 

 as before, being perhaps a little more regular in its outline. * * 



* * About half past eight, light of a crimson color was ob- 

 served to shoot from the eastern horizon toward and beyond the 

 zenith, nearly in the position of the former arch. The heavens 

 were now nearly covered with thin cirro-cumulus clouds, and the 

 contrast of the ordinary clouds with this crimson auroral light, 

 produced a very singular effect. The sky remained cloudy during 

 the night, and the next morning there fell a few flakes of snow." 



The time at Hudson, is about thirty-four minutes earlier than 

 at New Haven. From the accounts given by Mr. Smith, Mr. 

 Haskins, and Professor Loomis, it seems impossible to identify 

 any particular phases as having been noticed by any two of the 

 observers. Professor Loomis was probably mistaken in supposing 

 that he saw the commencement of the Aurora. At the time of 

 his first observation, a corona had already formed itself, and faded 

 away at Geneva. The accounts just given, hardly satisfy us in 

 regard to the splendor of the first auroral display. We are forced 

 to believe that, but for the clouds, it would have been much more 

 magnificent in the cities of New Haven and New York, than it 

 is here represented to have been. 



The Aurora, (to go still farther west,) was observed in the city 

 of St. Louis, Mo. The Republican of that city remarks : " This 

 beautiful and interesting phenomenon, was visible during nearly 

 the whole night, and was particularly brilliant between the hours 

 of twelve and one, when the moon was near its zenith." Time 

 in St. Louis being rather more than an hour earlier than in New 

 York, this last display was contemporaneous with the latest re- 

 turn of the Aurora in our longitude : but this, which was the 

 least energetic here, appears there to have been the most remark- 

 able. 



From places north of New Haven, we should, of course, anti- 

 cipate accounts of the appearance of this phenomenon. A letter 

 from Professor A. W. Smith, of the Wesleyan University at Mid- 

 dletown, Conn., to Mr. Herrick, describes the heavens as they ap- 

 peared, from half past five till half past six, in terms very nearly 



