Aurora Borealis of November 14, 1837. 281 



display was over. A few traces were seen for a little time longer, 

 when every vestige disappeared." The time at Emmittsburg is 

 18^ m. earlier than at New Haven. 



A letter from President Humphreys, of St. John's College, 

 Annapolis, Md., to Professor Olmsted, speaks of the Aurora of Nov. 

 14, as " more magnificent than any that has ever before occur- 

 red" there. Mr. Humphreys proceeds : " It [the Aurora] extended 

 many degrees/arther south than the great one in January. It 

 came on in waves, as before, at about a quarter before six, and re- 

 turned at seven, at eight, and at nine. The first arch was formed 

 suddenly, and became vertical in a very few minutes, from the 

 first appearance of the columns at the N. W. and S. E. It was 

 crimson, traversed by white pencils. The magnetic variation 

 was diminished 1° 5'. It is here, west." A communication al- 

 so appears in the Republican, of Nov. 18, published at Annapolis, 

 proceeding, likewise, probably from President Humphreys, and 

 giving a more particular account of the returns at eight and nine. 

 It is remarked that, " the color of the light at 8h. was not red, 

 but dusky, and formed from the N. W. point to the pole star, a 

 broad column, which kept its position for half an hour. A suc- 

 cession of fine cirrous clouds floated off from the lower parts of 

 the column to the south. At 9h. the recurrence of the crimson 

 light was more in patches, and of intense brightness, accompanied 

 by cirro-cumulous clouds, which were formed suddenly over the 

 whole sky, and were borne swiftly to the east by the wind, and 

 at apparently a greater elevation in the atmosphere than that of 

 the Aurora." 



The latter opinion of President Humphreys, in regard to the 

 comparative altitude of the auroral and the ordinary clouds, is un- 

 doubtedly a mistaken one. But for the presence of these latter, 

 he would unquestionably have observed something more than 

 patches of crimson light, since the corona was seen by persons in 

 almost every direction from Annapolis. Difference of time be- 

 tween New Haven and Annapolis, 15m. 



From Fairfax Co., Va., near Alexandria, Professor R. Tolefree 

 writes, of the early display : " From E. S. E. to W. S. W., was 

 exhibited a rich orange red color, extending even to the zenith, 

 and covering all the heavens north of these points." Professor 

 Tolefree observed the return, in a brilliant and fiery form, toward 

 nine o'clock ; but he observes that, " by a quarter past nine, the 



Vol. XXXIV.— No. 2. 36 



