Then we have no record till 1621, when an Aurora, described by Gassendi in his ‘Physics,’ was seen all over France, September 2nd of that year.
In November 1623 another, described by Kepler, was seen all over Germany.
From 1666 to 1716 no appearance is recorded in the ‘Transactions of the French Academy of Sciences;’ but in 1707 one was seen in Ireland and at Copenhagen; while in 1707 and 1708 the Aurora was seen five times.
The Aurora of 1716, occurring after an interval of eighty years, which Dr. Halley describes, was very brilliant and extended over much country, being seen from the west of Ireland to the confines of Russia and the east of Poland, extending nearly 30° of longitude, and from about the 50th degree of latitude, over almost all the north of Europe, and in all places exhibiting at the same time appearances similar to those observed in London. An Aurora observed in Bologna in 1723 was stated to be the first that had ever been seen there; and one recorded in the ‘Berlin Miscellany’ for 1797 is called a very unusual phenomenon. Nor did Auroræ appear more frequent in the Polar Regions at that time, for Cælius states that the oldest inhabitants of Upsala considered the phenomenon as quite rare before 1716. Anderson, of Hamburg, writing about the same time, says that in Iceland the inhabitants themselves were astonished at the frequent Auroræ then beginning to take place; while Torfæus, the Icelander, who wrote in 1706, was old enough to remember the time when the Aurora was an object of terror in his native country.
According to M. Mairan, 1441 Auroræ were observed between A.D. 583 and 1751, of which 972 were observed in the winter half-years and 469 during the summer half-years. In our next Chapter we propose to give some general descriptions of Auroræ from comparatively early sources.
CHAPTER II.
SOME GENERAL DESCRIPTIONS OF AURORÆ.
Sir John Franklin’s description.
Sir John Franklin (‘Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea in the years 1819, 1820, 1821, 1822’) describes an Aurora in these terms:—