The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-11-07
THE NORTHERN LIGHTS.
Look at tho Mystery of the Northern
Lights or Aurora Borealis.
Science for All.


Science for All.
These appearances are most generally known
as the northern lights, the merry dancers or the
Aurora Borealis, owing to the fact that the
high northern ATTITUDES have been much more
visited than the southern. The same phenome-
Ia. however, are to be seen as we go southwark,
and so they are sometimes spoken of under the
name of the Aurora Australia, We have chosen
the most popular name for our title though,
perhaps the most appropriate one that has been
applied to them is that of Aurora Polaria. As
few of those who read this will ever have the
opportunity of actually visiting either the north
ern or the southern polar regions, let us imagine
ourselves for brief season to be upon the deck
of vessel far away in the north-let us say in
the autumn, just before the approach of the long
arctic night. As we glance round all looks cold
and bleak. There is light enough for us to see
on every hand the fantastic forms of the ice
bergs looming up in the darkness We hear the
grinding of the bergs together and cannot sup
press an uncomfortable feeling as the conJin-
gency presents itself IN our mind of the ship
getting aground between two of those huge
floating ice islands. As look the scene
changes as completely though n magician's
wand had transferred us to one of the iewelled
palaces of the Arabian Nights" We see
arches Of light stretching across the heavens
from east to west-sometimes remaining sta
tionary, and sometimes moving slowly towards
the south. Rays of light shoot out perpendicu-
larly from the arches, and if the arches are
below the horizon We only see these rays,
which, though really parallel often appear
as an effect OF perspective to meet in point
in the zenith. These rays very seldom
remain stationary. but shoot upward toward the
zenith at the same time moving eastward, often
with tremulous, snakelike motion from end
to end, tilt sometimes they cover the whole sky.
Ii now we turn eyes from this magnificent
light to look down upon the surrounding mass of
bergs, which just now looked so weird and
gloomy, we can scarcely believe that they are the
same, for now they throw back to us, in thou
sand colors, the light that flashes on them from
above and the peaks and pinnacles of the bergs
appear to be set with jewels of the most varied
hueS and the most dazzling brightness. The rays
appear in the most varied forms and patterns, In
one of the most beautiful of which, though sell
dom seen, the rays appear to hang from the sky
in folds like a mantle 1t is at present rather
doubtful whether the auToral displays are
or are not accompanied by any sound.
Many observers have asserted that during
aurora, they have heard cracking and kissing
sounds; and some experiments made by NJ
Plante, as they throw great light the theory
OF the aurora deciaedly support this view. On
the other hand, some of the most eminent polar
explorers have listened in vain for these sounds,
and have given it as their opion that what
heard was merely the breaking up of the ice and
the grinding of the ieebergs Baying now in
our mind the appearance of these northern lights,
we will repeat wellknown laboratory
covered at the end with brass caps,
one of which is fitted with stop-cock which
we car screw to the plate of an air pump. 70
the brass caps attach the terminals of
powerful induction coil, but as yet we perceive
no result We begin to exhaust the air
from the cylinder, and as the exhaustion goes
we soon see a soft tfemulous light beginning to
play about the ends of the cylinder; and this,
when the air is sufficiently rarehed gradually
extends through the cylinder AS we continue
the exhaustion these phenomena will be re-
versed the light gradually dying away as the
exhaustion increases. We shall at once per-
ceive how very much this resembles an aurora
on a small scale, and so we have electricity sug
gested to as the agent which produces the
aurora.