C 31 ] 
V. Memoranda made during the appearance of the * Aurora Borealis on the ] 8th of 
November, 1835. By Charles C. Christie, Esq. M.A. Communicated by 
S. Hunter Christie, Esq. M.A. F.R.S. Sfc. 
Received and Read December 10, 1835. 
As the following Memoranda, noted down during the remarkable Aurora of the 18th 
of November, have been considered of sufficient interest to be read before the Royal 
Society, I think it right to state, that I did not anticipate that this would be the 
case, and that my only object in making them was, to record carefully whatever re- 
markable appearance might present itself, for the information of one who, I knew, 
felt a deep interest in every phenomenon of the kind, and whose simultaneous obser- 
vations I hoped to have the pleasure of comparing with my own. Being, however, 
unwilling to make any alteration in a statement of facts, I have preferred leaving 
them exactly as they w T ere communicated, merely offering a few additional explana- 
tions and remarks, suggested by striking exhibitions of the phenomenon. 
Memoranda. 
Wednesday evening, 9 o’clock. — Remarked, on looking accidentally from the 
drawing-room window of Deal Castle, a bright light over Ramsgate, exactly as if the 
moon were about to rise in that quarter. Saw, on proceeding to the roof, a perfect 
and very bright arch to the north ; the lower edge being sharply defined on the dark 
cloud beneath, the upper shaded off into the sky. The sky, except beneath the 
luminous arch, perfectly cloudless ; the stars shining brightly down to its upper 
edge. The wind rather high and gusty, not particularly cold, and north-north-west 
(by the ventometer). Altitude of the arch about that of y Ursse Majoris. Western 
extremity terminating exactly below a Aquilse. 
9 h 5 m . — The arch itself motionless, but large bodies of faint vapoury light con- 
tinually ascending from it, and whirled in every direction, across the zenith, &c., as 
if by the wind, and with such rapidity as scarcely to be followed by the eye. These 
frequently rose perpendicularly, and were then sharply whisked off towards the south- 
east. (See Sketch 1 . Plate II.) 
9 b 15 m . — A fine outbreak of pencils of light from the centre and eastern extremity 
of the arch ; none of them stationary, or in straight lines, but waving more or less 
and flickering, as if with the wind ; masses of vapoury light whirled up occasionally ; 
the whole presenting the appearance of an immense and not distant, conflagration. 
