Aurora Borealis of November 14, 1837. 285 



ring the last autumn, the writer, being on Manhattan Island, a 

 little north of New York city, was fully persuaded that a power- 

 ful auroral action was going on, between the hours of eleven and 

 twelve, A. M. The sun was, in the mean time, shining, without 

 the slightest cloud to obscure his lustre ; but along the north 

 there lay a heavy bank of haze, above which a flickering or -wavy 

 light was obvious to the eye for more than half an hour. The 

 same appearance was also noticed by Mr. J. H. Pettingell, of New 

 York, who continued to observe it after the writer's attention was 

 withdrawn. No magnetic needle was at the time accessible ; and 

 accordingly it was impossible to verify the truth of the observa- 

 tion, by an appeal to that instrument. 



In a paper appended to a Report of the Regents of the Univer- 

 sity of the State of New York, for 1836, it is stated by Professor 

 Joslin, that, on the day following the great Aurora of Nov. 17, 

 1835, " there was such a display of auroral clouds as almost to 

 justify us in considering it a proper Aurora seen in the day-time.'''' 

 But if the Aurora be exclusively a nocturnal phenomenon, it is 

 desirable that the fact should be established. This will be one 

 step, at least, toward the development of its causes. By a series 

 of observations, the truth can be ascertained, either positively or 

 negatively ; but the needle must, from the nature of the case, be 

 the chief means of bringing it to light. 



The agitation of the needle during the existence of an Aurora, 

 unobserved at the time, in consequence of clouds, but subse- 

 quently ascertained by observations elsewhere made, has been 

 repeatedly noticed. An extract of a letter from M. Humboldt to 

 M. Arago, contained in the Comptes Rendus of the French Acad- 

 emy of Sciences, No. 1, Jan. 1837, cites a statement of M. Gauss, 

 inserted in the Journal Astronomiqae de Schumacher, No. 276, 

 that the disturbance of the needle at Gottingen, on the seventh 

 of February, 1835, was greater than ever before known ; and 

 adds that, at the same time, a beautiful Aurora was observed by 

 M. Feld, Professor of Natural Philosophy, at Braunsberg, in East- 

 tern Prussia. It is stated also in the Comptes Rendus of April 

 17, 1837, that, on the sixth of the same month, an Aurora was 

 observed by M. Morren, of the College Royal d' Angers ; and that, 

 at Paris, in the mean time, the sky was covered with clouds, but 

 the needle violently disturbed. 



