[ 6 °5 ] 
5. Extract of a Letter from Mr. James Short to 
Mr. George Graham, F. R. S. dated at Edinburgh, 
Dec. 6 . 1737 . concerning the fame Lights. 
^\ 7 'Efternight we were furprifed upon looking 
'"■* out at the Windows, about Six o’Clock, to 
find the Sky, as it were, all in a Flame 5 but upon 
further Inquiry, it was nothing but the Aurora Bo- 
realis , compofed of red Light. There was an Arch 
of this red Light reached from the Weft, over the 
Zenith , to the Eaft; the Northern Border of this 
Light was tinged with fomewhat of a blue Colour. 
This Aurora , as far as I faw, did not firft form in the 
North, and after forming an Arch there, rife 
towards the Zenith , as they commonly ufe to doj 
neither did the Light fhiver, and by fudden J irks 
fpread itfelf over the Hemifphere, as is common, but 
gradually and gently ftole along the Face of the Sky, 
till it had covered the whole Hemifphere } which 
alarmed the Vulgar, and was indeed a ftrange Sight : 
In fome Places we faw the Clouds pafs betwixt us 
and it. During the whole Time, which was from Five 
o’Clock till Eight, there was a mod violent Wind 
from the South-weft. I looked at Jupiter with 15^ 
Inch Telefcope, but the Air was in fuch an Agitation 
I could not fee him diftindtly. Lucida Lyra ap- 
peared through the red Light very dim to the naked 
Eye. About Eight o’Clock this red Light formed a 
Corona , a little to the South of the Zenith ; and in- 
ftead of a dark Fund in the Middle, as ufual in fuch 
Occafions, it was of a deep Red. There was always 
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