112 REV. J. FARQUH ARSON’S EXPERIMENTS ON THE INFLUENCE 
March 24 th, 1830. (Journal continued.) — Therm. 45°, observed a remarkable 
Aurora. A bright fringe having a little deficiency near its vertex, but reaching 
low towards each horizon, and about 4° broad, is near the plane of the dip. To 
the northward of this, and crowding up to it with intervals only of about 3°, 4°, 
and 5°, many fragments of another fringe, some of them 10° or 20° long from 
E. to W., others much shorter ; the general breadth of these varying from 
about 4° to 6° or 7°- N. of these again other fragments of a fringe or fringes, 
having their most lengthened dimensions very perceptibly in an E. and W. 
direction ; and the whole northern part of the sky, down to a long dense 
cloud stretching the length of the Coreen hills and elevated only 8° or 10° 
above them, is filled with brilliant streamers, at times presenting apparently 
inextricable confusion, and at other times partial appearances of arches. No 
clouds in the region of the Aurora, nor southward of it, with the exception of 
one on the S.W. horizon. A bright nebulous light about 15° high along the 
whole S. horizon. 
The whole lights in the N. part of the sky made a rapid progress southward ; 
and the manner of this progress was repeatedly finely exhibited in the fringes and 
fragments that had reached or passed the zenith, by the extinction of streamers 
at their northern faces and the formation of new ones at their southern faces. 
The advanced southern fringe expired when it had reached about 25° S. of the 
zenith ; and all did so, either when they attained a similar angle S., or before 
they had gone so far. The confused mass of streamers in the N. as they came 
forward in succession to the zenith, and passed that point, unfolded them- 
selves into narrow zones of light at right angles to the magnetic meridian, or 
very nearly so ; for there was occasionally a small deviation from parallelism 
among themselves. These zones were more numerous than I have seen on any 
evening before, and were separated from each other by less intervals, sometimes 
not cxceeeding 3° or 4°, sometimes however 15° or 20°. There were among 
them two complete and very lengthened fringes, besides the one first described ; 
but the larger proportion consisted of only fragments of similar fringes, cut 
short more or less in their E. and W. dimensions. 
The needle on the steel point, from the first moment of observation was very 
unsteady, shifting sometimes more slowly, and sometimes more rapidly and 
