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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1141 



ton. The light first appeared from the north- 

 east in the form of a brilliant belt of pearly 

 white, the rays of which seemed to converge 

 toward a center somewhat below the horizon. 

 It became so intense and the direction of the 

 belt shifted in such a fashion that some mem- 

 bers of the party at once thought it was the 

 headlight of a train approaching around a 

 curve. In a very few minutes the display 

 changed to a brilliant array of streamers with 

 intermediate belts of diffused light, all of 

 which seemed to diverge from a common 

 center. At this stage it resembled very much 

 the corona type of aurora, with the exception 

 that the streamers reached almost to the 

 zenith. The intensity of the light and the 

 position of the streamers were constantly 

 changing, but the source from which they 

 seemed to diverge remained fixed for almost 

 half an hour. Finally this aspect of the dis- 

 play vanished, and there appeared a broad band 

 of diffused light that began swinging across 

 the heavens from the original position in the 

 northeast to an east-west position and extend- 

 ing from the eastern horizon through the 

 zenith almost to the western horizon where it 

 faded out. It remained fixed in this position 

 for at least fifteen minutes, during which time 

 it gradually narrowed and grew in intensity 

 until its width might well be compared to that 

 of a rainbow and its brilliance became more 

 striking than ever. At length it began to fade 

 away and finally disappeared. At no time did 

 we observe the coloring described by Professor 

 Nutting. The phenomenon first appeared be- 

 tween nine and ten o'clock Pacific Standard 

 time, which was not very far in absolute time 

 from that of Professor Nutting's observation 

 in northern Michigan. W. L. Foster 



University of Chicago, 

 November 2 



On August 26 I was in camp with Dr. Wal- 

 cott at Hector, a station on the Canadian 

 Pacific Eailway, practically on the divide of 

 the Bocky Mountains in British Columbia. 



The view northward is limited by a moun- 

 tain ridge two thousand feet or more above 

 the camp. Mountain masses are not far dis- 



tant to the southeast and southwest, but to the 

 east, south and west the view is quite extensive. 

 At 8 :40 p.m. (two hours slower than eastern 

 time) a faint " curtain " of light appeared in 

 the northeast, well above the mountain. Im- 

 mediately afterward this was extended by 

 waving columns of light to the eastward and 

 westward: then a veritable "glory" appeared 

 spreading across the northern hemisphere. 

 Long beams of light as though from huge 

 searchlights flamed across the sky, curtains 

 and bands formed in swaying folds. A little 

 later, about nine o'clock, the whole heavens 

 were included, with rays extending from the 

 zenith to the horizon (as limited by the topo- 

 graphic features). 



There seemed to be a shower of light sur- 

 rounding us, which gradually faded. Up to 

 this time the light was white or very pale 

 green in places. Immediately followed a gor- 

 geous display of colored lights, reds, greens, 

 blues, more nearly in the north. In the whole 

 display the motion of light was from east to 

 west. 



E. H. Chapman 

 Washington, D. C. 



To the Editor of Science: It may interest 

 the readers of Science to know that the 

 auroral display of August 26, which has al- 

 ready been extensively commented upon in 

 these columns, was visible in the Selkirk 

 Mountains in British Columbia, upwards of 

 three thousand miles west of the extreme 

 easternmost locality in Nova Scotia reported 

 by Professor Heyl. Auroral displays are not 

 infrequent during the summer months in the 

 Selkirk Eange, but the one in question was 

 the most brilliant, and otherwise the most re- 

 markable, of all that I have seen in this region 

 during an experience covering the greater part 

 of six summers. It may, or may not, be of 

 significance that it came shortly before a pe- 

 riod of twelve consecutive rainy days, during 

 which thunderstorms— usually relatively rare 

 in the Selkirks — were both numerous and 

 violent, and severe hail-storms also occurred 



