Aurora Borealis of November 14, 1837. 279 



corresponding to those used by Professor Olmsted, and already 

 quoted. Professor Smith adds : " About nine o'clock there was a 

 corona formed a little south of the zenith, highly colored, as on 

 the 17th November, 1835, Streams of auroral light were also 

 faintly visible at the same time in the north." It is very obvi- 

 ous that the magnificence of the exhibition at nine was by no 

 means so great in Middletown as in New York. 



Professor O. P. Hubbard, of Dartmouth College, Hanover, N. 

 H., in a letter to Professor Silliman, also mentions the appearance 

 of the Aurora at that place ; but without giving a particular de- 

 scription. 



East of New Haven, the snow storm seems to have been more 

 protracted than in this city. The rosy flush observed here at six 

 o'clock, was nevertheless seen in New London, in this state, 

 though the snow was falling copiously at the time. A letter to 

 Professor Olmsted, from Mr. J. Hurlbut, of the latter place, dated 

 Nov. 14, says : " The snow has fallen incessantly since five o'clock 

 this morning, and up to this hour (eight o'clock, P. M.) the storm 

 has not in the least abated. But, at about six o'clock, it seemed 

 as if the heavens were on fire. A lurid light on all sides, from 

 the zenith to the horizon, cast a most vulcanean hue on the fallen 

 snow. This lasted about half an hour, and then disappeared. 

 The light seemed the same in every portion of the heavens, but 

 without any apparent cause." 



South of us, the distance to which this beautiful exhibition was 

 visible, at one time or another, during the course of the evening, 

 was very unusual. From a large number of notices we select a 

 few of the more circumstantial, and present them in the geo- 

 graphical order of the places from which they come, proceeding 

 southward. The United States Gazette, published at Philadel- 

 phia, after noticing the early appearance of the heavens, which 

 was not dissimilar to that observed at New York, continues : 

 " At a later period, the lights were again visible, and between 

 nine and ten o'clock, exceeded in extent and brilliancy, any thing 

 of the kind ever before witnessed in this latitude. A broad field 

 of crimson flame, stretching from nearly a western course, and 

 reaching the eastern hemisphere, encompassed the heavens with 

 a brilliant glory, of indescribable beauty and magnificence, hang- 

 ing, as it were, suspended from the blue vault above, like an im- 

 mense curtain over the earth — while, from almost every point of 



