286 H. A. Newton on the height of Auroral Arches. 
molecular forces was placed in a little spot of the house that con- 
tains many mansions besides. This matter slowly collected to- 
gether. In thus following the force of attraction planted in it 
by eternal love, the whole great life of the solar world was 
awaked ; and as the pulsation of the heart in man indicates the 
fleeting moments of his life, so the pulsations of that great whole, 
succeeding each other at equal intervals, gave each one birth to 
a new world to mark the historic epochs of the Universe by its 
position and to roll on for ages, a revelation of the Great Au 
thor, until, always following the same attractive force, it in death 
. finds rest at the bosom of the planet-mother, the sun, And 
then—this grand system remains as a mere lump, a Cosmic Fossil, 
suspended in space, where perchance some higher being may 
meet with it, touch it, investigate it, and construct its whole past 
history, as the geologist in our days studies the history of a 
fossil shell ! 
Iowa City, Iowa, July—November, 1864. 
Art, XXXV.—The determination of the height of Auroral Arches 
Jrom observations at one place; by H. A. NEWTON. 
Tne arch in each of these three cases may be incomplete, 
broken, or otherwise irregular. But there is a manifest tendency 
é€ 
if ever, a2 
otably less 
fore probably due to a single cause. differ: 
here is no reason to believe that each observer sees Se 
ent arch, just as each sees his own rainbow. There 18 nO 1™ i: 
of light beneath the arch, and moreover a decided Pp has thet 
very frequently found. ‘The curve of the auroral arch : 
a definite locus in the atmosphere. fine 
a 
there- 
