rising of the pillars in the North-east, or to the East of North,
rather than to the North-west, or West of North, almost at the same
time with their first appearance in the North, is not, perhaps,
even as seen between the Lena and Yenesei, so uniformly the case as
M. Gmelin may have been led to believe; and that, at all events,
as above described, the progress of the late display, observed in
London, was, first from North to West, and afterward from West to
East; the North being always the centre, or always light, while the
West and East were changed. The covering of the whole sky, and the
splendour of the scene produced, have been the subject of previous
remark; and the observation, “that the streams (previously called
pillars) are then seen meeting together in the zenith,” entirely
corroborates what the present writer has said of the nature of the
lights seen skimming across the zenith, and across each other, and
the deduction which he has thence made, that the luminous appearances
in the zenith are the summits of those very pillars of which the
bases are on or below the horizon. The clear and calm weather which,
on the shores of the Icy Sea, commonly follows the appearance of
the Aurora is, in some degree, in concord with the phenomena of its
recent appearance in London; where, without any material change
in the temperature, a succession of clear, calm, and bright days
supervened, within a day or two of the Aurora. As to the hissing,
crackling, or rushing noise, which is said to accompany the Aurora
in the more northern regions, and which has sometimes been compared
to that of the furling and [p415] unfurling of flags, there is
nothing difficult, (knowing what we do of the noise of winds and of
thunder,) in admitting its probability, unless what may arise from
the consideration, that the noise might, or might not, be expected
to be heard, where-ever the phenomenon is to be seen. But the most
striking and important truth, communicated in the foregoing account,
is that which we cannot but rigorously infer from the collective
testimony of two very distinct descriptions, which is afforded in two
of the concluding sentences. It consists in that real _infrequency_,
as well in the Northern, as in the Southern Hemisphere, of the
appearance of the Aurora; an _infrequency_ the knowledge of which is
so essential to the true history of the phenomenon, and therefore
to its true philosophy, and consequently to much of the history and
philosophy of nature at large;—an _infrequency_ which the present
writer has given notice of above, as a proposition for which, in
dissent from all received authorities, he will contend; and upon the
opposite account of which matter, in the general account quoted,
he has already requested the reader to suspend his judgment. It is
obvious that, as a natural phenomenon, an Aurora Borealis, which,
though _constantly_ experienced in the more Northerly regions, is but
rarely observed in the more Southern; that is, an Aurora Borealis
which, though familiar to the Samoiede, the Laplander, and even
the Shetlander, is an extraordinary, and a terrific, or at least a
marvellous event, to the Italian, the Frenchman, and even to the
Englishman; it is obvious, that such an Aurora Borealis, _constant_
in its occurrence a little further to the Northward, and almost
the solitary spectacle of a generation a little further to the
South, is, as a natural phenomenon, a very different thing from an
Aurora Borealis which, though far enough to the South, sufficiently
frequent in comparatively trivial magnitudes and lustre, is seen,
either in the South or in the North, in its greatness, and in its
splendour, but yet rarely, and with, perhaps, almost equal rareness;
it is obvious that, as natural phenomena, and not less so as sights
connected by mankind with their own fortunes, the two things now
described are exceedingly unlike as matter of history, and equally so
as matter of philosophy. If we are simply to record the occurrence,
it is one thing to speak of a phenomenon [p416] which, in the South,
is seen only at long intervals, while it is a “constant attendant”
in the North; and another thing to speak of that which, whether
in the South or in the North, is equally rare, and equally out of
the “constant” course of nature. If we are to write the history of
nature, it is one thing to relate, that such phenomena, or rather
others, infinitely more splendid, more terrific, or more marvellous,
than that which was witnessed in London, in the month of September
in this year, or in the same month some three-and-twenty years ago,
or else some six-and-thirty, and, to judge by experience, is not
to be looked for, in the same city, during twenty or thirty years
again;—it is one thing to relate that, in the Shetland Islands,
such a spectacle is a “constant attendant of clear evenings,” and
another thing to relate, that though, perhaps, on clear evenings,
in the Shetland Islands, some small displays of the Aurora are
not unfrequently perceived, yet, that such an exhibition as has
recently been witnessed in London, and still more, such as, more
effulgent, and more extended, and more vigorous, and even coloured
by the atmosphere into the terrific;—that those exhibitions, in
short, of which our naturalists and men of science would persuade
us, that, while beheld nightly by those of the North, they are known
to us by very faint examples alone;—those exhibitions,—that those
extraordinary examples of the brightness and vigour of the Aurora—are
as rare, or almost as rare, not only in the Shetland Islands, but
in Iceland, and on the shores of the Icy Sea, as in the streets of
London themselves! It is obvious, too, that if we are to speak of
this phenomenon philosophically, if we are to attempt to explain its
origin and use,—its source in the natural elements, and its office in
the natural economy; here, too, the solving of this question of the
_frequency_ or _infrequency_, the _constancy_ or the _inconstancy_,
of these mighty exhibitions, even in the North, and under the Pole
itself, is matter of foremost importance. And what is the testimony,
upon these heads, which is borne by the accounts collected by Gmelin?
Is the Northern Light of the German naturalist, the apparently
constant attendant of clear evenings, even in the countries between
the Lena and the Yenesei? Is the spectacle, and the atmospherical
hurley, which seems to rush over the [p417] hunting-grounds of
the hunters and their dogs, and which frightens the very dogs, and
pins them to the ground till it is passed, or has seemed to pass;
is this the “constant attendant of clear evenings,” or, is it a
prodigy so uncommon as to defy familiarity? But, if this evidence is
insufficient, let us look to what is said of its influence, in these
countries, on the subsequent state of the atmosphere. So far from the
Aurora being an attendant or follower of clear evenings, it seems
that clear evenings follow the Aurora! It is said, that after its
occurrence, clear and calm weather is customary to follow; and, here,
the expression itself is implicative of the rarity of the occurrence.
If it were constant, how should this result come to be noticed;
and, indeed, if the Aurora Borealis were the constant attendant of
each twenty-four hours, and if clear weather were usually in the
train of the Aurora Borealis, how could it ordinarily happen, that
there should be any thing else than clear weather, in the countries
visited by the Aurora, or any foul weather for the Aurora to dispel?
Yet, such is the established prejudice concerning this supposed
frequency of the more powerful displays of the Aurora in the climates
further to the North than our own, that a writer, quoting the very
statement above, absolutely prefaces it with the remark, that
Gmelin, in pointed terms, speaks of the Aurora as “frequent,” as
well as “very loud,” “in the North-eastern parts of Siberia[125]!” A
simple perusal, in the meantime, is sufficient to show, that Gmelin
says nothing affirmative as to its _frequency_; while a slight
consideration of the facts which he adduces must satisfy us, as no
doubt they satisfied Gmelin himself, that the occurrence, even in
Siberia, is actually _infrequent_!
* * * * *
XI. In reference, however, as well to the image presented above, of
“a vast tent expanded in the heavens, glittering with gold, rubies,
and sapphires;” as also to many less ambitious and figurative
descriptions of the spectacle of the Aurora Borealis, (not excepting
that indicted by himself,) the author is anxious to suggest a caution
against the too exaggerated conception of the realities intended.
Words, [p418] upon such occasions, are rarely more than imperfect
pictures, presenting but feeble likenesses, and either deficient or
excessive in the amount of beauty, or of the reverse, of whatever
kind, which they attempt to copy from their originals; and the
inconvenience is seriously great, whenever the object portrayed is
wholly strange to the mind before which it is placed. The imperfect
power, both of words and written characters, to convey precise, and
sometimes even tolerable ideas, of the objects, either sensible or
abstract, which they are intended to represent, and the superior
intelligibility so often belonging to diagrams or figures, or other
resources of the art of drawing, (the primitive, and, for so many
purposes, the most instructive mode of writing[126],) would have
led the present writer, had time permitted, to endeavour, as often
as possible, to elucidate by such means the several parts of the
foregoing observations; but which means, at last, and in reference to
the actual phenomena of the Aurora, would necessarily fail to convey
the due, and yet no more than the due impression, to such as are
wholly without its ocular acquaintance. We are little aware how much,
upon ordinary occasions, our understanding of words heard or read is
assisted by our previous knowledge of the sensible objects, or of
the acquired notions, to which they refer; and the examples would be
endless, of the sensible objects preposterously misconceived, as well
as the propositions made false or ridiculous, through the frequent
inadequacy of words to communicate truths entirely new [p419] to the
disciple. Even the history of opinions concerning the Aurora Borealis
itself, might be cited upon this very point.
The ordinary and natural resource, in such circumstances, is
comparison; but even comparison has been the source of great and
endless errors of description. Of the degree of resemblance proposed
between the known and the unknown, there is no common measure for
the minds of the hearer and the listener, and the point or points
of comparison intended by the first must often be mistaken by the
second; or, if reference is made to a similitude under one aspect,
the imagination conceives a resemblance also under another: thus,
if it is said, that an unknown animal is as _large_ as a horse,
the idea of the _figure_ also of a horse, is apt to be attached. A
modern English work of science premises, upon the subject of the
Aurora Borealis, that its appearance is so well known as to render
description needless. It is true that the work referred to is
printed in the Northern part of the island, where the phenomenon is
doubtless more familiar than in the Southern; but, in the foregoing
pages themselves, it has, perhaps, been demonstrated as probably
certain, that if it is any where sufficiently known to render
description trite for the common eye, it has at least never hitherto
been described with sufficient precision for the aid of speculative
research. To attempt to explain its _cause_, and to relate its
entire history, its _appearance_ must first be either observed or
described with accuracy; and we have seen, above, that some of the
most scientific reasonings which have hitherto been offered as to
the former, are wholly inapplicable to the true peculiarities of the
latter.
Considered simply as a visual object, and as a meteor differing
from all others, and especially from all other luminous meteors,
in this, that its duration extends to hours, if not to days and
months; the only resemblance, perhaps, that can be suggested, is to
that description of lightning which is called _heat-lightning_, the
frequent companion of our summer-evenings. But, here, the similitude
is inexpressibly feeble; since heat-lightning has nothing, either of
the splendour, the volume, or the beauty of the Aurora; and since
the light of the latter, however mobile, varied, and, from time to
time, increased and diminished in itself, is yet, as to general
effect, continuous and [p420] steady. There remains, then, but to
compare the phenomenon of the Aurora with the rising or the setting
Sun. In both of these latter, as in the Aurora, the light is in
the horizon, and that light is shot upward, perpendicularly, or
obliquely, toward the zenith or toward the right and left; and both
of these, like the Aurora, are more or less constantly attended with
a variety of colouring, similar in hue if not in depth, and always
beautiful, and often gorgeous. With the _Sun_, and with the beams
of the Sun, ancient description, in point of fact, has confounded
the _Aurora Borealis_, to the degree, perhaps, of giving origin to
some of the ancient and poetical descriptions of the Sun, utterly
inappropriate and inexplicable as understood of that day-star, but
easily recognised in the Aurora; yet the dissimilitudes, at last, are
numerous and great! Of the essential difference of figure, both as to
the _beams_ of the Sun, and the _beams_ of the Aurora, in severalty,
and of the inevitable difference of indication of which, as to their
nature, mention has been already made; and also as to the general
or collective figure of the beams of the Aurora, as contrasted with
that of the rising, or of the setting Sun. The next point is the
homogeneity of colour in the beams of the Sun, however the apparent
colour may vary, as it is seen to do, from horizontal stratum to
horizontal stratum, from the horizon to the zenith, according to the
varied density of the medium between the light and the eye of the
spectator. The light, upon the other hand, of the beams of the Aurora
is heterogeneously coloured in itself, and is so displayed; and
not, therefore, varied as the beams ascend from horizontal stratum
to horizontal stratum, or as crossing all the beams together, but
found in each particular beam itself, and attending its direction,
whether vertical or inclined, and whether rectilinear or curved.
Waiving, then, any comparison in detail, between the phenomena of
the Aurora, and the phenomena of the rising or of the setting Sun,
but admitting that, to a certain degree, all are alike vast in
dimensions, splendid in light, rich in colour, and durable upon the
eye; there is still nothing else to be subjoined, than that, at least
with reference to vastness of dimension and magnitude of the volume
of light; to the quantity of light diffused; and to the richness and
gorgeousness of [p421] the attendant colouring; there can be little
risk, in the assertion that, vast, and splendid, and beautiful, and
rich, and gorgeous, as, when seen in the most favourable situation,
and under the most favourable circumstances, the Aurora may be, it
is, at last, but insignificant, when compared, for those features,
to the vastness, the splendour, the beauty, the richness, and the
gorgeousness, more or less, from day to day, displayed in the rising
or the setting of the Sun; and, that for chaster beauty, and even for
amount of light diffused, it is not even to be likened to the silver
Moon! As a substitute, too, for either, or for both, the Aurora, in
the regions of cold and night, may justly demand the admiration and
the blessing of mankind; and, in regions cold and inclement, its
rarity, not unaccompanied by beauty, by grandeur, and sometimes even
by the terrible in appearance, may well invite the gaze and fix the
attention of beholders; but, considered along with the light of the
luminaries of heaven, its claims reduce themselves in quality, though
certainly not in degree, to a level with those of an artificial
lustre; and we almost repeat, in reference to the light of the
Aurora, as compared with that of the Sun, or even of the Moon, what
the poet has said in reference to the lights of our chambers:—
“Who but rather turns
To heaven’s broad beam his unconstrained eye,
Than to the glimmering of a waxen flame?”
The Moon, in the meantime, inferior as she is to the Sun, has
been “blessed,” from age to age, for her “useful light;” and the
“useful light” of the Aurora, also, has its claims to “blessing.” It
co-operates with the Sun, the Moon, and with other agents of nature,
to make, not merely the Polar regions of the earth, but the entire
globe of the earth, fruitful, at once, and habitable[127]! [p422]
* * * * *
XII. In a succeeding paper, the author may possibly submit to the
consideration of his reader, the particular and novel hypotheses
which he has allowed himself to form, as to the _substance_,
_causes_, and _effects_ of the Aurora; hypotheses partly dependent
upon those _facts in its natural history_, which, above, have been
almost the exclusive objects of attention. At present, the leading
particulars of the _natural history_ of the phenomenon, which it has
been attempted either to bring or to fix in view, are these:
1. That the Aurora is a phenomenon observed both in the Northern and
Southern Hemispheres.
2. That, in either hemisphere, it is observed in the general
direction of the corresponding _pole of the earth_.
3. That, in the Northern Hemisphere, on the shores of the Icy Sea, or
at the furthest distance north, its situation is still observed to be
the northward.
4. That, in the Southern Hemisphere, it has been observed to the east
of the South Pole, and in the Northern, to the east and west of the
North Pole.
5. That, upon the late occasion, the place of its columns, during the
exhibition, was observed to change from the west of north to the east
of north; but, so as always to have the north for the apparent centre
of its strength.
6. That, in the Arctic regions, the appearance of the Aurora is said
to be usually followed by clear and calm weather.
7. That the appearance of the Aurora Borealis is no wise peculiar
to the winter solstice, but has been observed in each of the eight
months of September, October, November, December, January, February,
March, and April, and may be regarded, therefore, as coincident
with the Arctic winter; and that the appearance of an Aurora in the
Southern Hemisphere, in the month of February, or beginning of the
Antarctic winter, as observed during the voyage of Captain Cook, in
the year 1773, is [p423] consistent with the persuasion, that the
Aurora _Australis_, in its turn, is a phenomenon of the Austral or
Antarctic winter.
8. That _considerable_ or powerful displays of the Aurora are
infrequent, even in the extreme Polar regions; and that it is _very
considerable_ or powerful displays alone, which make themselves
visible in the lower latitudes, north or south of the equator.
9. That no appearance belongs to the Aurora itself, but that of its
coruscations, columns, spears, or streamers; and that all colours,
therefore, or coloured figures, not belonging to the coruscations,
but coincident in their appearance, are to be regarded only as
reflections or refractions of light, derived from the coruscations by
the clouds which happen to cover the sky.
10. That the colours, or coloured light, proper to the Aurora, or
seen in the columns or coruscations themselves, are varied from
column or coruscation to column or coruscation, and severally
continued in the direction, and throughout the length or height, of
each.
11. That, in the late example, the columns or coruscations situate
in the due north, or apparent centre or focus of the phenomenon,
exhibited a light at least comparatively white; and that the
variation, from white to colour, had an apparent relation to the
comparative remoteness of each column or coruscation from the column
or coruscation in the central north.
12. That the direction or position of the columns or coruscations of
the Aurora, are so far from being uniformly convergent toward the
zenith, or uniformly vertical, or from the horizon to the zenith,
that, in the late example, they _did not converge_ toward the zenith,
but, contrariwise, _diverged_ from it; spreading themselves like the
sticks of a fan, or like stalks in a flower-basket.
13. That the columns or coruscations of the Aurora are not uniformly
rectilinear in their figure; but that, in the late example, those
on the north-eastward were curved outwardly, or “bent sideways,” as
described in the appearance of the columns or coruscations of an
Aurora seen in the Southern Atlantic, during the voyage of Captain
Cook, in the year 1773. [p424]
FOOTNOTES:
[120] Literary Gazette, Sept. 29, 1827.
[121] “PENCELLS.—Pencills, or flagges for horsemen, must be a
yard and a halfe long.” Harleian MSS., cited in an interesting
and valuable essay on the “Banners used in the English army, from
the Conquest to the reign of Henry VIII.” By N. H. NICOLAS, Esq.,
F.S.A—_Retrospective Review_, Oct. 1, 1827.
“The Pensell, or Pennoncelle, was the diminutive of the Pennon,
being a long narrow flag.”—MEYRICK’S ANCIENT ARMOUR.
“STREAMER.—A Streamer shall stand in the toppe of a shippe, or in
the forecastle, and therein be put no armes, but a man’s conceit or
device, and may be of the lengthe of twenty, forty, or sixty yards;
and it is slit, as well as a guydhomme or standarde.”—HARLEIAN MSS.
An item, in a bill of parcels, charged to the Earl of Warwick, in
1437, consists of “a great Stremour for the Ship, of xl yerdis
lenghth, and viij yerdis in brede.”—BANNERS USED IN THE ENGLISH
ARMY, &c.
[122] Meteorological Journal, Literary Gazette, Sept. 29th.
[123] Literary Gazette, as above.
[124] _Encyclopædia Britannica_. Art. Aurora Borealis.
[125] Encyclopædia Britannica.
[126] The individual, social, and political importance of making
the _art of drawing_ a branch of general education, is a subject
which the author can never cease to urge upon the attention of his
fellow-countrymen, and of all the civilised world. It is more than
ten years since he first endeavoured to lead the public eye to its
regard. In England, and with a view to the subsistence of a large
and always increasing population, it is an EDUCATION IN THE ARTS
which is the great want; and the _art of drawing_, besides being
the assistant of all _knowledge_ whatever, is peculiarly so of all
other _arts_ than itself, or of all other works of the _hand_. A
recent Sermon, by the Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells, preached at
Wells, for the benefit of the Diocesan National Schools, bears ample
testimony to the deficiency, and even the dangers, to the poor not
less than to others, in all the present popular education; and, so
far, therefore, to the soundness of the author’s principles, and
to the fitness of his remedy. His own design, however, is not only
to remedy an evil arising from the present practice, but also to
produce an independent good; and, not merely to aid the poor, nor
merely to promote the political welfare of this kingdom, but to
increase the resources, physical and intellectual, of all classes,
and to promote the welfare of the whole world.
[127] The author has an opinion, that among the “agents of nature,”
for equalising the temperature of the surface of the globe, is to
be reckoned, not only the Northern and Southern Lights, but the
entire Ocean; and that this agency is the immediate object aimed at
in the existence of this last, as one body of water surrounding the
entire globe. His evidence consists in geographical, hydrographical,
meteorological, and physiological facts, as also in the apparent
reason of the case. He supposes, in consequence, a perpetual
circulation of the waters of the sea, longitudinally round the
globe, or from North to South, and from South to North again; and
the result of Captain Parry’s late attempt to reach the Arctic
Pole, as also some of the facts which have transpired respecting
Captain Franklin’s late land expedition, appear to confirm his
theory, according to which the physical use, or final cause, of
the existence of the Ocean has never previously been understood.
His theory affects the question of the North-west Passage, which
latter object he suspects to have never yet been pursued in the true
direction; even the discoveries of Captain Parry appearing to him to
have fallen short of ascertaining the communication with the Polar
Sea by the channel of Davis’s Strait.—Some introductory observations
upon this subject have been already made in an article in the New
Monthly Magazine for October, 1826, (vol. xvii. p. 371.)
_Proceedings of the Royal Society_.
The anniversary meeting of the Royal Society for the election of a
president, and other officers, was held as usual at Somerset House,
on Thursday, the 30th of November, being St. Andrew’s day.
Till within a few days of the election, it was generally understood
that the Rt. Hon. Robert Peel was a candidate for the chair; in
consequence, however, of that gentleman having declined, Davies
Gilbert, Esq., M.P., was put in nomination, and was almost
unanimously elected the President of the Royal Society.
The late secretaries, Messrs. Herschel and Children, having resigned
their respective offices, Dr. Roget and Captain Sabine were nominated
in their places, and were duly elected.