(1) contains those observed by him at Kendall; (2) are taken from another list; (3) is Marian’s list of those observed before 1732; and (4), those seen in the State of New York in 1828 and 1830.
Mr. Stevenson’s table of those observed by him at Dunse, from 1838 to 1847, inclusive, is as follows:
| Jan. | Feb. | Mar. | Apr. | May. | June. | July. | Aug. | Sept. | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. | |||||||||||
| 32 | 20 | 18 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 43 | 34 | 30 | 23 |
Observations in this country correspond substantially with the foregoing. They are, however, seen here in the summer months more frequently than in Europe. See an article by Mr. Herrick (American Journal of Science, vol. 33. p. 297). In this, also, they conform to our greater magnetic intensity and more excessive climate.
The auroras appear to follow the polar belts of condensation and precipitation. Dalton considers them indications of fair weather. They are often most brilliant just after a storm has passed, but their continuance is no indication that another will not follow within the usual period.
The condensation with which the aurora is connected, is not, in my judgment, often in the counter-trade, or below it, but above, where feeble condensation has been seen by aeronauts when invisible at the surface of the earth. Neither the height of this condensation, not that of the aurora, have been satisfactorily ascertained. The aurora of April 7th, 1847, was a favorable one for observation. It was carefully and attentively watched by Professor Olmsted, Mr. Herrick, Dr. Ellsworth, and others, and they are intelligent and skillful observers.[9] But the nature of the aurora forbids reliance on parallax, or measurements founded on the time when, any portion of the bow or arch rises in range of a particular star. The bow or arch moves southwardly, but the same rays or currents do not. The wave of magnetic activity moves south, and each successive current, as it is reached by the impulse, becomes luminous. Hence the observers, when distant, do not see, at the same time, or at different times, the same rays. The phenomenon is unquestionably magneto-electric. Electricity becomes luminous in a vacuum, and De la Rive, by combining the electric currents with those of magnetism, produced all the peculiarities of the aurora. The magnetic currents, passing from the earth, have associated electric ones in connection, and these, in the upper attenuated atmosphere, become luminous. Whether, as De La Rive supposes, by combining with the positive electricity existing there, or because the associated electric currents are then in excess, not being intercepted by atmospheric vapor and returned to the earth in rain, we can not know, nor is it very important we should.
Having thus taken a general view of the nature of magnetism and its associated electricities, and their connection with the general and obvious peculiarities of climate, let us approach more nearly the varied atmospheric phenomena, resulting from variations of pressure, temperature, condensation, and wind, and give them a closer consideration. They all have regularity and periodicity—they all occur in degree, and in connection with magnetism and electricity, during the twenty-four hours of every serene and normal summer’s day. Grouped together, in comparison with the changes in the activity and force of the magnetic elements, their connection is clearly discernible.
The day may be said, with truth, to commence, in some portion of the summer, at 4 A.M. The atmospheric does at all seasons. At that hour the barometer is at its morning minimum. It has, as we have said, a perceptible diurnal variation of two maxima and two minima. Its periods of depression are at 4 A.M., and 4 P.M., and of elevation at 10 A.M., and 10 P.M. The difference between the elevation and depression is considerable within the tropics, where Humboldt tells us the hour of the day can be known by the height of the barometer, and it decreases toward the poles. At 4 A.M. it is then at one of its minima, and rises till 10 o’clock.
At, or about the same period, and sometimes when the barometer is falling, and previous thereto, there is a tendency to fog in localities subject to that condensation. This tendency is sometimes observed at the other barometric minimum, late in the afternoon or early in the evening, but less frequently. The tendency to fog condensation is greatest in this country about the morning minimum. It seems to be owing to the influence of the earth; it is confined to the surface atmosphere, and is apparently produced by the inductive agency of the negative electricity of the earth. It disappears, whether it be high or low fog, about the time when the barometer attains its morning maximum, or about 10 A.M.
At about that period, when there has been fog, or earlier, when there has not, and sometimes as early as 8 A.M., there is a tendency to trade condensation—cirrus in mid-winter, and a cumulus in mid-summer, and, during the intermediate time, a tendency to cirro-stratus, partaking more or less of the character of one or the other, according to the season.