Notice of the late Aurora Borealis. 1 07 



ed us. At first, no motion of the air could be discovered ; 

 but in the latter part of the evening a breeze came up from 

 the south east. The light of the moon, which was very 

 bright, seemed to have no effect upon the northern light, ex- 

 cept perhaps, to render it a little less luminous. 



I endeavored to ascertain the direction of the centre of 

 the arch, as nearly as possible ; but this was difficult, partic- 

 ularly as my horizon was not level, but inclined to the east. 

 Judging, however, from the direction of the jets, it was 

 about one degree east of the north star, which was then 

 nearly two degress east of the pole, making the declination 

 about three degrees. At this point the jets appeared to be 

 erect, but declined more and more from the centre as they 

 appeared further from it. 



(From the Paris Constitutionel.) 



" The learned Mr. Arago had the goodness to communicate to 

 us the following note : — 



" The phenomenon which appeared on Tuesday the 25th, in the 

 atmosphere was an Aurora Borealis. It announced itself as ear- 

 ly as eight o'clock in the evening, by a very perceptible distur- 

 bance of the horizontal needle's diurnal variations. At half 

 past nine this disturbance was enormous ; but at that time lumin- 

 ous spots showed themselves here and there, between the west, 

 north west, and north north east. A few minutes afterwards, a 

 luminous arch formed, which lasted only a few moments. Its 

 culminating point coincided nearly with the magnedcal meridian. 

 At eleven o'clock, the phenomenon was already considerably les- 

 sened. During the whole duration of its appearance, the hori- 

 zontal magnetical needle, and even the dipping needle changed 

 their direction so frequently as scarce to allow the time requi- 

 site for noting the observations. No Aurora Borealis has been 

 visible at Paris these twenty years." 



{From the Journal des Debats.) 



" On the 8th September, a very beautiful Aurora Borealis was 

 observed in the north west, from every part of Denmark, which 

 is said to indicate an early rigorous winter. 



" The day before yesterday (wSept. 28th,) towards 1 1 o'clock at 

 night, all the northern part of the sky appeared in a blaze. It 

 was supposed that a vast fire had broken out, and that the flames 

 were devouring part of the metropolis. The reflection was as 

 strong, and the reddened atmosphere as fiery, as on the occasion 

 of the great fire breaking out at the theatre of L'Ambi£ue 



