284 Aurora Borealis of November 14, 1837. 



reason of the interference of clouds, it was not long visible. The 

 variations noted, were as follows : — 



The mean variation for the month of November, had been 

 determined to be 26° 48' 45". The writer continues : — 



"At half past twelve, a patch of the most intense blood red 

 colors which I have ever seen, was visible, free from the interpo- 

 sition of clouds. The whole of the sky had an awful appear- 

 ance ; for the tinge of red which pervaded the whole expanse, as- 

 sumed, in many points, from the depth of colors above, and the 

 density of the clouds below, the dark copper tint, which is seen 

 on the disk of the moon during a lunar eclipse." 



The time here mentioned would correspond nearly to a quarter 

 before eight in New Haven ; and the display which seems to have 

 been observed at its height, must have been almost contempo- 

 raneous with some of the earlier appearances noticed in this 

 country. The time included between the earliest and latest ob- 

 servations on the needle, is equivalent to that from half past six 

 to eight, here. 



None of the scientific periodicals published on the continent of 

 Europe, of a date sufficiently recent to contain notices of this 

 Aurora, have yet reached us. Considering the intensity of the 

 auroral action in England, as observed by Mr. Stanway, we can- 

 not doubt that the phenomenon manifested itself over a great part, 

 if not the whole, of the continent. 



General RemarJcs. 



In considering the various accounts, not only of this, but of all 

 great Auroras, we are not the least astonished at their vast extent. 

 There can hardly be a doubt that often, at the same moment, the 

 auroral action is going on in every longitude of our hemisphere ; 

 and possibly, at the same time, quite as extensively in the south- 

 ern hemisphere also. True, there is commonly believed to be 

 some mysterious connection between this phenomenon and the 

 absence of the sun, or, in other words, the night ; but to what 

 can this be owing, save to the fact, that, during the day, the light 

 of the Aurora, like that of the stars, is necessarily swallowed up 

 in the overpowering radiance of the sun ? On one occasion du- 



