Than to the glimmering of a waxen flame?”
The Moon, in the meantime, inferior as she is to the Sun, has been “blessed,” from age to age, for her “useful light;” and the “useful light” of the Aurora, also, has its claims to “blessing.” It co-operates with the Sun, the Moon, and with other agents of nature, to make, not merely the Polar regions of the earth, but the entire globe of the earth, fruitful, at once, and habitable[127]! [p422]
XII. In a succeeding paper, the author may possibly submit to the consideration of his reader, the particular and novel hypotheses which he has allowed himself to form, as to the substance, causes, and effects of the Aurora; hypotheses partly dependent upon those facts in its natural history, which, above, have been almost the exclusive objects of attention. At present, the leading particulars of the natural history of the phenomenon, which it has been attempted either to bring or to fix in view, are these:
1. That the Aurora is a phenomenon observed both in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
2. That, in either hemisphere, it is observed in the general direction of the corresponding pole of the earth.
3. That, in the Northern Hemisphere, on the shores of the Icy Sea, or at the furthest distance north, its situation is still observed to be the northward.
4. That, in the Southern Hemisphere, it has been observed to the east of the South Pole, and in the Northern, to the east and west of the North Pole.
5. That, upon the late occasion, the place of its columns, during the exhibition, was observed to change from the west of north to the east of north; but, so as always to have the north for the apparent centre of its strength.
6. That, in the Arctic regions, the appearance of the Aurora is said to be usually followed by clear and calm weather.