Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1884-11-20
THE noRrHEnN LIGHTS.


A weIl-Kn0wn Phenomena of the
Heavens Described.
These appearances are most generally
known as the Northern Lights, the Mer-
ry Dancers or the Aurora Borealis, ow-
ing to the fact that the high northern
latitudes have been much more visited
than the southern. The same phenome-
ma, 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 per-
haps 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 ac-
tually visiting either the northern 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 be-
fore 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 icebergs looming up in the
darkness. We hear the grinding
Of the bergs together, and can
not suppress an uncomfortable
feeling as the contingency presents
! itself to our mind Of the ship getting
aground between two of those hugh
floating ice islands. As we look the
scene changes as completely as though a
magician's wand had transferred us to
one of the jeweled 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
toward the south. Rays of light shoot
out perpendicularly 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 per-
spective 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 a tremulous, snake-like motion from
end to end, till sometimes they cover the
whole sky. If now we turn our eyes
from this magnificent light to look down
upon the surrounding mass of-sSeergs
which just now looked so weird and
! gloomy, we can scarcely believe tha
| they are the same, for now they throw
back to us in thousand colors the light
that flashes on them from above. and
the peaks and pinnacles of the berg;
appear to be set with jewels of the mos
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 seldom
seen, the rays appear to hang from the sky
in folds like mantel. It is at present
rather doubtful whether the auroral dis.
plays are or not accompanied BY any
sound. Many observers have asserted
that during an aurora they have heard
cracking and kissing sounds: and some
experiments made by NJ Pian.e, as they
throw great light on the theory Of the
aurora, decidedly support this view. Or
the other hand, some Of the most emf
nent polar explorers have listened in vair
for these sounds, and have given it as theil
opinion that what was heard was merely
the breaking up Of the ice and the grind.
ing OF the icebergs. Having now in oui
mind the appearance of these northern
lights, we viii repeat a well known
laboratory experiment. We take glas:
cylinder, covered at the end with brass
caps, one of which is fitted with stop
cock, which we can screw to the plate Of
an air pump. To the brass caps we now
attach the terminals Of powerful induc-
ton coil, but as yet we perceive no re-
suit. We now begin to exhaust the air
from the cylinder, and as the exhaustion
goes on we soon see a soft tremulous
light beginning to play about the ends
of the cylinder; and this, when the air is
sufficiently rarefed, gradually extend.
right through the cylinder. AS we con
tinue the exhaustion, these phenomena
will be reversed, the light gradually
dying away as the exhaustion increases.
We shall at once perceive how very much
this resembles an aurora on a small scale,
and 50 we have electricity suggested ia
US as the agent which produces the
aurora.-Seience for AH.