Democratic enquirer. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1867-1873, 1872-08-21
The Late AurOral Display
Is it PortentOus9 ---The
Hurricane Season i'm the
Tropics.

Tropics.
From the N. Y. Herald.l
The magnificent auroral dis
play Of last Saturday nigh
will furnish scientists a neV
opportunity for studying tn
probable cause and significanc
of the phenomenon. AS w
have already noticed, this au
roral display visible over
large portion Of the country
from the lakes as far south al
Washington and was repor
ted by some as the most extra
ordinary one eyer remembered
in their respective localities.
The most satisfactory. expla'
nation of these splendors in
the northern sky seems to be
that which connects them with
the reflection of electric dis
charges from the microscopic
ice crystals, which compose the
delicate cirrus clouds in the
upper atmosphere. These
crystals of condensed Yapor, 50
minute as to defy any but the
most practiced observer5 acts
as a screen for the reflection of
light; and the deposition of
watery vapor from the lofty
equatorial current produces
the lightning discharge.
But whether this be the
true origin of auroras or not
they are said by meteorologists
to be excellent and almost, ,un'
failing premonitors of atmos>
pheric disturbances, and often
of the most disastrous gales and
cyclones. Ithas been carefully
observed at the Imperial Oh.
servatory at Paris, that the
perturbations of the magnetic
needle are joined inseparably
with wide spread auroras and
the consequent disturbances Of
the telegraphic wires. 1t is
also clearly established by sci
entifc observation, that the
display Of the Aurora Borea-
lis indicates general movement
of the atmosphere in high lati.
tudes, aud especially such a
movement over the Atlantic
Ocean. The electric discharges
in the high north seem to reg
lister and reveal the fact that 9
vast body of oquatorial and
vapor-laden air has invaded
the polar territory and begun
to invite a counter movement,
and repelling activity of the
colder atmosphere, resulting
as all experience shows, in
the immediate and usually
successful attempt to expel
the intruding mass, This is
followed by the downrush of
polar air over the tropics them
selves, as is beautifully shown
by the late weather reports of
the Signal Office. These re-
ports attest the flow Of vast
currents of cold air from the
northern part OF the Continent
descending upon the entire
country east of the Mississippi
and overrunning the Southern
and Gulf coasts. 1t is by no
means improbable this vast
torrent of cool, semi-polar air,
as it makes its irruption into
the hot, watery air Of the West
Indies, may produce violent
disturbance, either by mechan,
ical conflict or by the sudden
condensation of immense qian,
titles Of aqueous yapor, In the
weather preceding the celebra'
ted Royal Charter gale which
swept over England in 1859,
theIthermometer for a few days
previous was very low for the
season, and over a large part
Of the globe auroras and mete-
org had been peculiarly abun.
dant and resplendent; and even
for a week or ten days previ-
GUS the English skies had been
illuminated by the blood-red
streamers of the Aurora, It is
SO commonly observed by sea
men that such premonitions OF
storms are reliable that they
have long interpreted the coin
cidence as casual in its nature.
This is the hurricane season
for the West Indies, and we
may be now on our guard
against those tropical storms,