264 Aurora Borealis of September 3, 1839. 



dip at Louisville Ky., to be 70° 8', and on the 8th of Sept., he 

 ascertained the dip at St. Louis to be 69° 32'.* 



5. Throughout England the Aurora of September 3d, is des- 

 cribed as most gorgeous. A confused and rhetorical account con- 

 tained in a London paper of Sept. 4, (copied in N. Y. Journal of 

 of Commerce, Oct. 12,) states that the Aurora " had a most alarm- 

 ing appearance, and was exactly like that occasioned by a terrific 

 fire. The consternation in the metropolis was very great, thou- 

 sands of persons were running in the direction of the supposed 

 awful catastrophe. * * * At two o'clock in the morning 

 (4th) the phenomenon presented a most gorgeous scene, and one 

 very difficult to describe. The whole of London was illuminated 

 as light as noonday, (!) and the atmosphere was remarkably clear. 

 The southern hemisphere though unclouded was very dark, but 

 the stars which were innumerable shone beautifully. The oppo- 

 site side of the heavens presented a singular, but magnificent con- 

 trast ; it was clear in the extreme, and the light was very vivid. 

 There was a continual succession of meteors which varied in 

 splendor. They apparently formed in the centre of the heavens, 

 and spread till they seemed to burst ; the effect was electrical, 

 myriads of small stars shot out over the horizon, and darted with 

 that swiftness towards the earth that the eye could scarcely follow 

 the track ; they seemed to burst also, and throw a dark crimson va- 

 por over the entire hemisphere. * * * Stars were darting about in 

 all directions, and continued until 4 o'clock, when all died away." 



From this description some have imagined that there was ac- 

 tually during this Aurora, a shower of shooting stars, similar to 

 that seen on the 13th November, 1833. Although it is doubtless 

 possible that such a meteoric shower may occur on the 3d of Sep- 

 tember, yet the statement above given, unsupported by other tes- 

 timony, is altogether inadequate to establish the fact. This is 

 evidently a loose and overcharged description, and it is enti- 

 tled to a literal interpretation about as much as is an article pro- 

 fessedly on the "November Asteroids," which was published in a 

 London paper in November, 1838, in which it is asserted that 

 " several stars of an ordinary size" were seen " shooting from 

 their original spots, and falling apparently to the earth." 



* The statement of the altitude of the corona as observed in Brown Co., III. 

 (p. 147 of this Journal,) is doubtless incorrect. The estimate was probably made 

 by the eye ; and in such circumstances an error of even 17^ is not surprising. 



