14 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIV. No. 1383 



tlie tree type of woody plant in the temperate 

 zone. B. W. Wells 



North Carolina State College 



THE AURORA OF MAY 14, 1921 



To THE Editor op Science: A very fine 

 display of northern lights was observed here on 

 Saturday night May 14th to daylight Sunday 

 morning. It was first obsei-ved at 8:30 p.m. 

 and was most conspicuous in extremely bright 

 patches here and there in the sky, lasting usu- 

 ally not over a minute, with long arcs cross- 

 ing the northern horizon. It was slightly 

 cloudy, especially overhead and toward the 

 northeast, but bright patches of aurora could 

 be seen through the clouds. The sky was 

 clear in the west and here and there groups of 

 fine lines were visible, having always a slant 

 of 60 degrees from the horizontal, correspond- 

 ing to the dip of the compass at Tucson. 



The colors were a dull white changing to a 

 greenish tint in the northerly glows, a bril- 

 liant pearly luster in the patches and an oc- 

 casional strong red color over large indefinite 

 areas. 



The display appeared to become somewhat 

 less intense at 10:30 but shortly afterward 

 showed renewed activity especially in long 

 lines extending over large parts of the sky, 

 which was now nearly clear, and all pointing 

 toward a vanishing point of perspective situ- 

 ated about 30 degrees south of the zenith and 

 a little to the west of the meridian, which is 

 the direction of our lines of magnetic force 

 extending toward the south pole. This van- 

 ishing point was very beautiful and was ob- 

 served by many people. By one o'clock the 

 display had somewhat diminished, but a later 

 view at 3:30 showed a perfectly clear sky 

 and the ordinary arcs crossing the northerly 

 horizon with occasional nearly vertical stream- 

 ers extending upward. 



This was observed in many other parts of 

 Arizona and far exceeds the recollection of 

 anything of the sort seen here in forty years. 

 I have notes upon four previous occurrences. 

 One was seen from Flagstaff, Arizona, in the 

 winter of 1894 and 1895. One was reported to 

 me on November 5, 1916, and faint displays 



were seen here on October 9 and December 13, 

 1920. This was the first display of northern 

 lights for most of the people of this part of the 

 country. 



A. E. Douglass 

 Steward Observatory, 



The Univeksity op Arizona 



THE AURORA SEEN FROM SINALOA, MEXICO 

 IN LATITUDE 270 N. 



The Northern Light display of May 14 was 

 very plainly visible from the mesa here — only 

 a few miles from the tropics. The Indians 

 have been firing the forests to hasten the ad- 

 vent of the summer rains, and, when I first 

 observed the glow along the sky-line formed 

 by the Sierra Madre I thought they were in- 

 dulging in their propitiation of the gods on a 

 rather larger scale than usual. The glow be- 

 gan about eight o'clock and the rays were first 

 visible about fifteen minutes later. They were 

 white to pale yellow in color, ever changing in 

 form, location, and brightness. Many of them 

 appeared to reach an east-and-west great circle 

 through the zenith, those low down in the 

 eastern sky appearing longer. The apparent 

 focus was several degrees east of north. 



I had never before witnessed such a display 

 and never expected that my first observation 

 of the aurora would be from the semi-tropics. 

 J. Gary Lindley 



QUOTATIONS 



THE MOUNT EVEREST EXPEDITION 



The organization of the expedition is now 

 complete, and all the members proceeding 

 from England have left for India. The leader 

 of the mountain party, Mr. Harold Raeburn, 

 sailed from Birkenhead direct for Calcutta 

 on March 18. Colonel Howard Bury, chief 

 of the expedition, left Marseilles for Bombay 

 on April 9, and Mr. G. H. Leigh Mallory, one 

 of the young climbers, sailed from London 

 direct for Calcutta on the preceding day. Mr. 

 A. F. R. WoUaston, surgeon and naturalist, 

 left Marseilles for Bombay on April 16, and 

 by the same boat Mr. G. H. Bullock, who had 

 been selected at the last moment to replace 

 Mr. George Finch, who was unfortunately, ow- 

 ing to ill-health, unable to take part in the ex- 



