Auroras and Sunset. 151 



10m. past 10. Scattering broad sheaves of light, like fragments 

 of thin white clouds, convergence of the pencils perceptible, but 

 the focus disappeared. 



Half past 10. All disappeared except the light of an ordinary 

 Aurora in the north. 



III. Sunset at the West ; by Prof. C. Dewey. 



To a native of New England, few objects appear more beauti- 

 ful than the setting of the sun as it appears from the hills and 

 valleys of her mountains. The clearness of the atmosphere, and 

 the brilliancy of the colors, fasten his gaze upon the west as the 

 sun has just sunk behind the mountains. As he passes, however, 

 to the middle and western part of the State of New York, the 

 sunsets become still more beautiful, and often absolutely splen- 

 did. The atmosphere does not appear more transparent and 

 clear, but the variety of colors is greater, and they have a greater 

 strength ; the clouds show a more deep and brilliant reflection 

 of red and yellow rays, and often the most splendid radiations 

 of light soon after the sun has disappeared below the horizon. 

 Those radiations have considerable uniformity, and yet they have 

 much variety. They were well depicted in this Journal, Yol. 

 XXXIII, p. 33S-340. Between the broad radiating beams of red 

 or yellow light, there is often the most beautiful and intense hlue. 

 If it is merely the common color of a clear sky, the intensity of 

 the blue is greatly augmented by the contrast of the red or yel- 

 low light. Those radiations do not very often appear, although 

 they occur many times in the course of several months. They 

 begin sometimes so early as July, and do not cease till late in 

 October. When the radiations do not appear, there is also an 

 unusual splendor in the sunsets, transcending all I have ever wit- 

 nessed in New England, or on the east side of the Allegany 

 ridge. I have not been able to ascertain the peculiarity of the 

 atmosphere when the splendid radiations are shown. They oc- 

 cur just after sunset, and last only for a few minutes. In the 

 article referred to, it is suggested that the appearance may de- 

 pend upon the reflection of the sun's light from the surface of 

 the great lakes at the west of us. The supposition is very in- 

 genious and interesting, but seems not to be true in fact, as is 

 proved by the same appearances at the west of the lakes. In 



