Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1859-09-08
corn. os sf,e Aurorn Borealis

Cause Of the AurOfo DOEcdAss
M. de IA Rive, the celebrated French as
tronomer, explains the production of The
.urora borcalis in lie following manner:
ay6aen the sun, having passed into the
southern hemisphere, the aqueous yapors
which have accumulated during the sum-
mer id this part Of the atmosphere begin
to condeuse, the kind of humid cap envel-
oping the polar regions extends more and
more, and facilitates the passage of the
electricity accumulated IN the upper por-
,ions of the air. But in those elevated re-
gions, and especially at This season of the
wear, the aqueous vapors must frequently
pass into the state of minute particles OF
ice or snow floating in the air, similar to
those which give rise to the halo; they
form, rs It were, kind of seml-transpar-
ent mist. These half frozen fogs conduct
the electricity to the surface of the earth,
.,ear the pole, and are at the same time IL
Illuminated by these currents or electric dis
charges. In fact all observers agree in as
sertinc that aurora borealis is constantly
preceded by mist, which rises from the
pole, and the margins of which, less dense
than The remainder, are celored The first;
and indeed it is very near the pole in the
winter months, and especially in those
where there is an abundance of vapor in
the air.
Mr. Merriam, the Brooklyn meteor-wise,
has pronounced his opinion of the Boreal
lights. He says "the Auroria electricity
discharged from the craters of volcanos)
either disselyes in the atmosphere, and is
thus difused through space, or concentra-
ted into gelatinous substance forming me-
teors, called shooting stars. These mete-
ors dissol.e rapidly in atmospheric sir, but
sometimes reach the. earth before dissolv-
ing, and resemble thin starch" Merriam is
easily humbugged if not a humbug, for he
claims to have bit Of the Aurora in his
possession, which SO resembles silk that he
STYLES it the 'ssilkery of the skier"
The auroral display at Boston AT midnight
on the I'd, was so brilliant that ordinary
print could be read, and considerably i'm
peded the working of the telegraph up to
noon of the 2d. At times the current
from east to west was SO regular that mes
sages could be sent over the lines without
the usual batteries being applied. The op-
orators in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia
transmitted auroral messages to each 9TH
er, and at intervals kept up lively chat
bv the same medium, the galvanic batter
les being cut off and the instruments work
cd exclusively by means of the auroral cleo
tricity. 1t was exactly similar in its effects,
though differing in kind, to that generated
in telegraphic tatteries-or what is known
as common atmospheric electricity. The
Pittsburgh Chronicle says:
This, it is believed, is the first and only
instance on record, where the Aurora itself
Beautiful, glorious and mysterious as it has
always been considered in its brilliant man
ifesiations-has actually been llarnesscd up
and compelled to do the errands of man.
And thus il is ever achieving fresh and i'm
portant triumphs over nature; and those
phenomena, which in former times, when
the laws, general and particular, that gov
ern our earth, were comparatively uE-
known, were but objects of dread, or Of
direful omen, are now noted with interest,
recorded with precision, and utilized and
employed so as to render glory to God,
sui to the bidding of man.