116 
REV. JAMES FARQUHARSON ON THE AURORA BOREALIS. 
and Hawick ; at which places the fringe at Edinburgh, forty miles distant, 
with high intervening land, might well be supposed, if only a few thousand feet 
above the surface of the earth, not to have been sufficiently bright to excite 
attention ; and accordingly it is not stated, that at Jedburgh or Hawick any 
northern light was seen. The prolongation of a line a little south of Jedburgh 
and Hawick, at right angles to the magnetic meridian, would pass very near 
Dumfries ; and the fringe in this line might present in a “ sky very clear” “ a 
few streamers, low in the horizon,” to Mr. Harris at Cocke rmouth, about 
thirty miles distant, across the valley of the Solway. 
A comparison of the times and elevations leads to the inference, that only 
one fringe was seen at Cockermouth, Keswick, and Whitehaven ; and this 
fringe, when vertical over Keswick, might present the “ splendid light that 
was observable in the northern horizon” at Kendal, about twenty miles 
distant. The same fringe or the eastern part of it might, in its progress 
southward, hang over Kirkby Stephen at 9 P.M. 
A fourth distinct fringe might hang over Kendal between 8 and 9 o’clock ; 
and a fifth over Lancaster, twenty miles further, at 8 o’clock ; — beyond which, 
as there are no particulars from Preston, the phenomena cannot be compared 
with each other. 
There may, however, have been more fringes than these : but if there were 
not, the circumstance would well account for there being no reports of similar 
arches, seen the same evening, at many intermediate places of note, where the 
arches reported would be resolved into common streamers, and so excite little 
attention. 
Does there not arise an objection to Mr. Dalton’s conclusion, that the arch is 
one hundred miles high, from the circumstance that the light is often so brilliant 
at the horizon, — as seen for instance by yourself on the 29th of September, 
and many others, — at various times ? Were the arch one hundred miles high, 
horizontal rays, coming from the lowest part of it, would enter the atmosphere 
at nearly six hundred miles from the observer, and would have still about 
two hundred miles of air to penetrate, after they had come within five miles 
of the earth; without taking into account the refraction, which would increase 
the distance considerably. Would not the light, therefore, considering that it 
is at best but a relatively feeble one, be liable to a great or even total obscura- 
