THE AURORA BOREALie. 715 



From the 8th to the 14th of December, but especially on the 

 12th of December about 11 p.m., several meteors were seen passing 

 from near /3 Tauri towards the Pleiades. Sudden changes of wind 

 occurred about the times of these phenomena on the 12th and 14th 

 of December, and Parry says, " There appeared to be an evident 

 " coincidence between the occurrence of the meteors and the 

 ** changes of the weather at the time." 



" Feb. 22, 2 a.m. — Aurora appeared in an arch from north to 

 west by compass, with bright streamers towards the zenith ; 

 the needle was not affected in any way whatever." 



4. Ross's Observations of Aurora. 

 {Second Arctic Voyage^ 



P. 223. Nov. 24, 1829.— Brilliant Aurora to the S.W., extending 

 its red radiance as far as the zenith. On the following evening 

 there was a still more brilliant one increasing in splendour until 

 midnight. "It constituted a bright arch, the extremities of which 

 " rested on two opposite hills, while its colour was that of the 

 " full moon, and itself seemed not less luminous," with the dark 

 and somewhat blue sky behind it. 



On Dec. 3rd, magnificent arch of an Aurora. The colour was 

 a light yellow, and it emitted rays; day calm and sky clear, with a 

 cloudy horizon. 



Dec. 17th. — Another beautiful Aurora obscured by clouds. 



Dec. 20th. — Brilliant Aurora with bright flashes . 



The observations were made in Felix Harbour, lat. 69° 59' N., 

 long. 92° W., where the declination w^as 89° 45 ' W., and dip, 89° ^h' . 



At the magnetic pole, i.e., where all the declination needles re- 

 main in any position in which they are placed, the dipping needle 

 showed an inclination of 89° 59', in latitude 70° 5' 17", longitude 

 96° 46' 45" W. 



In his account of his Antarctic voyage he says : ^' Whilst our 

 " ships lay rolling amidst the foam and spray to windward of the 

 " berg, a beautiful phenomenon presented itself worthy of notice, 

 " as tending to afford some information on the causes of the 

 " exhibition of Auroral light. The unfrequency of the appearance 

 " of this meteor during the present season rather surprised us ; 

 " and therefore, to observe its bright light forming a range of 

 " vertical beams along the top of the icy cliff, marking and par- 

 " taking of all the irregularities of its figure, was the more 

 " remarkable." 



Captain Ross suggests that this singular appearance was pro- 

 duced by electrical action taking place between the vaporous mist 

 thrown upwards by the dashing of the waves against the berg, 

 and the colder atmosphere with which this latter was surrounded. 



From the observations of Captain Back, who observed a large 

 number of Auroras in 1833, and also from the observations of 

 MM. Lottin and Bravais at Bossekop, in Lapland (where the 

 appearances were very frequent), as well as from those of many 

 other observers, it appears that the degree of disturbance of the 



