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OBSERVATIONS ON THE AURORA BOREALIS.
could follow them in their progress to their apparent destination. During this periodof the Aurora, several light rain clouds scudded across from south to north, at a lowaltitude, and obscured the waves of light, evincing, as on other occasions, that theelectrical meteor was above the clouds.
About nine o’clock, the whole of the celestial concave partook of the auroral scene,which exhibited very different aspects in different quarters. The northern parts hadnow become the brightest, though continually changing in intensity and tint ofcolour, the latter varying between a soft yellowish white and a dingy red.In the south there appeared nothing but a lurid red haze, which gave a dimness tothe stars, though some of them occasionally shone without any perceptible interrup-tion. At one time Orion appeared as if completely covered with a flimsy mantle of adeep red colour; so flimsy, indeed, that the principle stars, Bete getise, Bellatrix , andRigel, suffered but little from their usual splendour: the natural red tint of the for-mer, however, was obviously enhanced by the auroral haze, and the others slightlypartook of the flimsy red tinge. Indeed, the whole of the stars in the southernheavens were more or less dimmed, and many of the smaller ones completely obscured.In the north also, and indeed on every side, a thin haze prevailed in obstructing thenatural refulgence of the stars, rendering them dim and gloomy. There was a brisksouth wind all the evening, and the thermometer stood at about 34°. The whole dis-play of the meteor on this occasion, and also on the 18th of November, appeared totake place in an atmosphere of highly attenuated nubiferous matter.
Sunday , January 14 th, 1849.—Stormy morning of west wind and heavy rain ; thethermometer 50°. Very windy all day, with heavy showers ; a loud clap of thunderabout noon, which was heard for several miles round this place; and in the neighbour-hood of Warrington, where there were several flashes of lightning seen, accompaniedwith loud thunder. At three in the afternoon, the thermometer fell to 43", and to40" at night. The clouds entirely disappear in the evening, and the stars shone witha feeble lustre, indicating a great abundance of aqueous vapour in the air.
About half-past eight a beautiful Aurora Borealis presented itself in the shape of a• well-defined luminous arch, which crossed the northern heavens, and from which pro-ceeded various groups of streamers ; but nothing extraordinary was observed, thoughclosely watched till eleven o’clock. The arch in this case was nearly, if not exactly,at right angles to the true meridian.
Monday , February \dth .—Stormy west wind, with heavy rain clouds in the morn-ing ; thermometer 47°: it rose to 50", and much rain fell during the day. The windcontinued high until evening, when it slackened a little, but still kept up a strongcold breeze. At night there appeared an Aurora Borealis of the most extraordinarycharacter hitherto recorded in the history of the meteor.