The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1882-04-27
DAZZLING NORTHERN LIGHTS.
The Marvellous Effect of the Auro-
ra BOrealIs upon the TeIe-
graphic system.

The aurora borealis of Sunday night,
which was visible all over the country,
seriously interfered with telegraphing.
In the transmission of messages across
the Atlantic the wires we're looped, and
whatis called return wire made so that
it took two wires to do the work of one.
The disturbance continued till IL o'clock
Monday morning. The effect of the
storm on the land wires up to 10 o'clock
Monday morDin G was also disastrous :;
but at that hour an improvement was
noticed, and by 2:30 p. m. everything
was running smoothly. During the cleo
trio disturbance the wires were worked
by making the multipleX circles single
All wires worked ordinarily on duplex
or quadruplex instruments, by means of
which two or four messages were sent over
the same wire, on Sunday night and
Monday morning were worked on the
plain Morse instrument. The quadru-
plex instrument, it was explained Mon
day by an operator in the Western I'm
ion Telegraph company, is so delicately
balanced that it is readily affected by
slight changes of the temperature, and
consequent electricity disturbances and
the instrument throw out of balance
The effect of the northern lights is to
either increase or diminish the electricity
that is in the wire. Instances are on re-
cord, however, where the current from
| the aurroa borealis has been steady and
| strong enough to operate, the wires as a
substitute for the voltaic battery. On
| this occasion, however, this was not at
tempted. This experiment proves that
the electric light of the aurora is similar
to that of a voltaic battery, differing
only in its variable intensity. Sea cap
tains generally regard the aurora as por-
tending storm, but Professor Daniel
Draper, who has charge of the Meteoro-
logical at Central park, said Monday
that such was not the case invariably in
his experience certainly not so in this
instance.
As seen by him early on Sunday night
the aurora was band in the north with
streamers treading towards the zenith,
with slight tinge of pink in the corona
of the streamers. At present the only
magnetic observatory on this continent
supplied with the delicate instruments
necessary for exact observation, is at
Toronto, Canada. They did have an
apparatus at Washington for the or
servance of magnetic phenomena, but
some years ago it was removed to the
Dry Tortugas. Definite measurements
as to the height of the aurora are made
by observations taken at different places
north and south, and the angles at two
places being ascertained, with the dis
tance between the places, the solution
then, by trigonometrical formula, is
simple.
Little is known of the real character of
the aurora borealis, but the generally ac.
cepted theory is that it is an electrical
current between the pole and the equator
as vet, however, science has failed to
ascertain the route of this current, its
strength or the time when it should be
looked for. Changes in temperature
are its probable causes, and it is usually
observed in the spring or fall. 1t has
been found by experiment that while
electricity is hard of transmission
| through the lower atmosphere, in rari
fled gases, it is transmitted easily, while
in absolute vacuum it seems it cannot
pass. In rarified gas it assumes fan
| like form similar to that of the aurora
borealis. Displays of northern lights
seem to be periodical. From 1880 to
1891 and from 1897 1854, es.
pecially during the months of
April and September, they were
greatest in frequency, while from 1742 to
1768 and 1902 to 1887 they were less fire..
quent. One of the greatest auroral dis.
plays occurred September 2, 1859, being
visible in North America, Europe and
Northern Asia, when the declination of
the magnetic needle changed three de-
grees and forty-ive minutes in half an
hour, and the inclination two degrees
and forty-one minutes.