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Curiosities Respecting Various Phenomena, Or (III)

APPEARANCES IN NATURE.-(Concluded.) The Aurora Borealis.

Silent from the north A blaze of meteors shoots: ensweeping first The lower skies, they all at once converge High to the crown of heav'n, and all at once Relapsing quick, as quickly reascend, And mix and thwart, extinguish and renew, All ether coursing in a maze of light Thomson.

THE AURORA BOREALIS, sometimes called Streamers, is an extraordinary meteor, or luminous appearance, shewing itself in the night time in the northern part of the heavens; and most usually in frosty weather. It is generally of a reddish colour, inclining to yellow, and sends out frequent corruscations of pale light, which seem to rise from the horizon in a pyramidical undulating form, and shoot with great velocity up to the zenith. The Aurora Borealis appears frequently in form of an arch, chiefly in the spring and autumn, after a dry year. The arch is partly bright, partly dark, but generally transparent: and the matter of which it consists, is also found to have no effect on rays of light which pass through it. This is an extraordinary appearance of the Aurora Borealis, observed by Captain Parry in his expedition to the Arctic regions.