Smyrna times., 1859-09-08
The Aurora BoreaIis, or Northern Light.

Inc Aurora Borealis of Sunday evening, tn
28th ult., and the one again of Thursday even
ing iast' which covered over the entire heavens
nave been fruitful themes of wonder aud soecu
iatloD IN every quarter, and is about the onl,
thlng that the wisdom of our philosophers ha
not satisfactorily explained. The Boston .Iour
nal, IN reply to the queries of CORRESPONDENT
present the following views in regard to The
phenomenon
The explanation Of the aurora borealis Iono
exercised the sagaClty and bailled the aIle1nni.
OF those devoted TO physical researches. The
question may not even now be considered set.
lied to emOnsraton. Some have ascrlhpd
IhlS appe france to solar light re(racted m tho
higher regions of the air, others to The agency
OF the magnetic fluid. Euler imarlucJ il IN
! proceed from the same ether which formed the
| 'aHs OF comets; Marian conceived it to arse
from The mixture of the atmosphere of the sun
win That OF the earth but when the properties
ol eIectrlc hight became known, ard when lts
appearance IN rarcfed air had been observad
all these hypothesis were by common consant
abandoned, and little doubt was entertained
that, whatever might be the details of the ma.
tural process by which it was produced, an am.
electricity. This is fully confirmed by the dis.
turbance of the wires Of the electric telepranb
during auroral displays. which trequenliy en-.
llrely interrupts communication. Eberhart.
professor at Halle, and Pau Frlsi al Pisi. were
The first who proposed an explanation of il.
founded on the following facts: 81 Electri.
cl'y transmitted through rareied air exhibits n
luminous appearance, precisely similar to that
ol the aurora borealls. z. The strata of atmos
Pherlc air become rarehed as their altItuda
above the surface of the earth is Increased -
hence they argued that the aurora is notbinr
more than electrical discharges transmitted
through parts OF the upper regions of the at
mosphere so rarefed as to produce the peculiar
luminous appearance winch they exhibit This
theory' winch was embraced and improved IN
Is details by Canton, Beccaria, Wilke. Frank.
IN, aud other contemporary electricians. has
received further countenance from more recent
researches. Nj. de la Rive, acting upon HIM
gwen by Morlet, Succeeded bv an ingenious
experiment IN producing on a small scale the
phenomena OF the aurora, by union of mao |
hetIc ana Vo'taic electricity in rarelied arr
S"tlmah journal, commenting upon this ex. |
Pe'lmeht' says II "appeHrs 10 account very sat-
'SIactorliy Tor what passes IN the phenomena of /
the aurora borealIs In fact, the hrht which
N0N''S A'O'7 VIC uulOl vi the Two GIectrlcItleS /
IN the part Of the atmosphere which covers the
polar regions, Instead of remaining vaguely
distributed, Is carried by the action of the ter.
restlal magnetism round the magnetic pole of
-he globe. whence 1t seems to rise IN revolving
columns of which it is the base
1t should be remarked that this theory of the
electric and magnetlc origin of the aurora is
not Established beyond dispute. Professor Ohm.
stead, IN paper presented to the American
Association at New Haven IN 1850, argued in
avor OF lis cosmlcal origin; trst from the er.
emf OF the exhibitions, which is greater than
could arise from any terrestrial emanatIons or
atmospheric preclplatlOns Secondly, from
he UetOcty OF the motions, which are too great
nr any terrestrial forces Thirdly, from the
occurrence of the different stages of an aurora.
the beginning, MAXIMUM, and end1 at the
ame hnur OF the night. in places differing
widely IN longitude, winch indicates that suc.
:esslve portions OF The earth, IN the diurnal ro
alton, Come under the origin of the aurora
situated IN space. Finally, from the periodicitv
IT the exhibitions; the durnal which shows
! relation TO the position of the sun with re.
pect 10 lis position; the annual, which ndi-
:ates "A relation of the auroral body to the
,arth's orbit; and especially the secular, Chat
$ It's occurrence II a series of years and then
teasing for tme) which implies cycle, at
he end OF which the auroral body and the
'arlh return TO the same relative position in
he heavens, while the very existence of such
secular perlodlclty takes the phenomenon out
# the pale OF terrestrial, and places it within
he pale OF astronomical causes. This theory
lso nfers that the auroral body (whence the
Material OF the aurora is derved) is a nebulous
ody Of light, seml-transparent, inhammabe
nd magnetic matter, revolving around the sun:
nd that probably there are many such cOilec-
IONS of nebulOus matter dilfused through the [
lanetary spaces. The views of Professor
)im,iead do not commend themselves to the
pprOval of scientific men generally, who ad-
ere to the terrestrial origin of the phenomena
The variety of colors which the aurora dis
layed on Sunday evening, although unusual,
by no means unprecedented. In the polar
egIOns these colOrs frequently mark the auro-
al exhibitions. There many who will re- {
Ollect that this phenomena characterized the
lsplays of 1887.