November 10, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



679 



The auroral display of August 26 described 

 by Professor Nutting and others in recent 

 numbers of Science, I observed from Lucas- 

 ville, 10 miles north of the Ohio Kiver in 

 Scioto County, Ohio. This is in practically 

 the same latitude as Washington and much 

 farther south than the observations recorded 

 to date of writing. It took the form of a 

 bright, white, uniform illumination of the en- 

 tire northern heavens, which extended in de- 

 creasing intensity almost to the zenith. Al- 

 though watched intermittently for about an 

 hour between 8.30 and 9.30 o'clock, no color 

 bands, streamers, curtains, moving light waves, 

 pulsations or other phenomena were observed, 

 nor was any tendency to increase or diminish 

 in brightness detected. 



The same display was witnessed by many 

 lake-shore campers at Cleveland, and was 

 noted by Cleveland papers the next day. The 

 diffused character of the light over the lake 

 and its greenish color were particularly noted. 

 J. E. Hyde 



Western Reserve University 



To the Editor of Science: In connection 

 with Professor Nutting's vivid account in a 

 recent number of Science (p. 496) of a re- 

 markable auroral display witnessed by him at 

 Lake Douglas, Michigan, it is perhaps of in- 

 terest to record that the same or a similar dis- 

 play was observed that identical evening in a 

 region as remote as the Glacier National Park, 

 Montana. 



At about 10: p.m., August 26, while Mr. E. 

 H. Dole and myself were returning from the 

 Many Glacier Hotel to the nearby Teepee 

 Camp on Lake McDermott, our attention was 

 attracted by a peculiar bright glow quite low 

 on the horizon in the eastern sky, as though 

 from the lights of a great city. We were much 

 puzzled by it until we had emerged far enough 

 from the disturbing glare of the electric lights 

 to discover that a similar, though weaker glow 

 was in the west, and indeed that an evanescent 

 shimmering arch of light extended not only 

 clear above us, but well past the zenith into 

 the southern sector of the heavens. Unfortu- 

 nately our view to the north was effectually 



obstructed by the gloomy bulk of Altyn Peak 

 and the canyon wall, but by this time the 

 auroral nature of the phenomena was evident 

 to us. While too shut in by the narrow valley 

 to secure the full enjoyment of the display 

 which so enthralled Professor Nutting, that 

 which we saw seemed sufficiently remarkable. 

 The light extended over the sky and seemingly 

 diffused through the whole upper atmosphere 

 in so general a glow that here also its real bril- 

 liance was difficult to appreciate. Quavering 

 streams of light — an everchanging sheen, some- 

 times brighter here, sometimes brighter there 

 — never uniform — no simile could be more de- 

 lightfully suggestive than Professor Nutting's 

 allusion to the photogenic play of the merid- 

 ional bands of Ctenophores as seen in darkened 

 water. The same comparison forced itself into 

 my own mind at the time. 



S. Stillman Berry 

 Redlands, California, 

 October 19 



To the Editor of Science: I was much in- 

 terested to read in the current number (Oc- 

 tober 20) of Science the records of places at 

 which the auroral display of August 26, 1916, 

 was seen. All five of the notes in this issue re- 

 port observation of the display at points to the 

 east and northeast of the locality reported by 

 Professor Nutting in Science of October 6. 



Following the suggestion of Professor 

 Baker, I wish to record having observed the 

 same phenomenon during the same evening at 

 Amery, Wis., fifty miles northeast of St. Paul, 

 Minn. The same remarkable features so well 

 described by several writers were in evidence — 

 the ever-changing, ebbing and swelling pulsa- 

 tions and the shimmering streamers of light, 

 fading and intensifying at the same time in 

 different parts of the heavens — but no marked 

 exhibition of color so far as noticed. The cen- 

 ter of the display was near the zenith and 

 practically the whole sky was occupied except 

 at times a rather narrow indefinite band or 

 strip in the south. 



Mr. Paul B. Sears, also a member of this 

 department, informs me that on the same night 

 he observed the display at Madison in north- 

 eastern Nebraska. The phenomenon exhibited 



