splendid and varied a display of this mystery, yet one equally, or perhaps more, interesting to the philosopher. I have now witnessed the Aurora at Kingston for upwards of four years, and in a former volume of the Transactions have described a magnificent scene which occurred there two years ago.

During the winter months, on Lake Ontario, the Aurora may be said to be the almost constant companion of the dark and cheerless nights, and it occasionally presents itself at all other times of the year; nor is it in winter a mere display of a glorious phenomenon, the utility of which has not yet been exemplified by science, for it sheds a continued and pleasing light, which resembles that of the crepuscular. The light does not, as in Europe, emanate from the vivid streamers which dance over the starry floor of the heavens, in ever-changing and inexplicable mazes, but proceeds from the northern horizon, over which a pale, luminous, low, and depressed arch, embracing an extent of from sixty to ninety degrees, is commonly thrown. This arch is generally luminous in its whole body, not on the rim or verge only, which fades away into ethereal space, but from its superior circumference to the chord formed by the horizon itself, and varies in its elevation, from ten to fifteen and twenty degrees. Wherever it embraces stars, these luminaries are either veiled or dimly seen, being strongly contrasted on a fine star-light night with their fellow orbs of the southern heavens, which appear to shine out with double brilliancy.

Within the space comprehended by this arch of light, continual changes are operating, if the Aurora assumes a splendid shape. Dark volumes of vapour, not like clouds, but blackening in a moment, rise and fall, whenever a ray or an interior arc begins to form, and it is remarkable, that this darkness usually accompanies the commencement of every change in the scene, thereby increasing the majesty and beauty, as well as the brilliancy, of the spectacle.

But it is impossible for any pen ade'quately to describe a phenomenon, which is continually presented in these regions; and it is with diffidence that I continue a task imposed on myself. It will, therefore, be more satisfactory to detail the circumstances attending a very recent repetition of one of the inost beautiful of

On the evening of the 11th of December, 1835, the sky, after the sun had sunk, was dark and gloomy, and although there were but few clouds visible, and the stars were rapidly brightening, a change of weather was apparent. Snow had fallen, for the first time, on Wednesday, the 8th, after a short space of great cold, to the depth of about five inches, and the thermometer had sunk afterwards to 16o, at which it stood on Monday, the 13th. On Tuesday it rose to 30o, and rain in abundance falling, removed the snow entirely. It was exactly midway between the extreme cold and the thaw, that the Aurora took place, the thermometer at the time standing at about 26o, and the wind, a gentle breeze from the north-west. The barometer stood at 29.9, at 9 p. m., at an elevation of 40 feet above the lake, which is 219 feet above the level of the sea.*

Its first appearance. after darkness bad completely set in, was by the luminous arch above-mentioned assuming its wonted place. From this arch, in the north, arose almost incessant streamers of bright white light, which shot upwards to the zenith, and streaked the dark sky with their silvery lines.

Once a mass of light suddenly opened in the zenith, and from it darted out innumerable pencils of bright rays, overspreading the dark vault of heaven with their glories, and seeming for a moment to illuminate the sky with a star, which its vast space was scarcely capable of containing.

Again, rods of white light would dart forth from the northern horizon, and one single one, in particular, spanned the whole arch of heaven, touching the southern horizon over the great lake.

This play of the Aurora continued from seven till near nine, and was most brilliant and magnificent about nine, when it assumed another and not less singular attitude, of which the following is a faint attempt to delineate:

The barometrical observations were made at the Hospital on Point Henry, by a very accurate observer. On the 10th of December, it indicated, at 9 a. m. 29'5, at 9 p. m. 29'7; on the 11th, at 9 a. m. 298, at 9 p. m. 299; on the 12th, at 9 a. m. 30 1, at 9 p. m. 30'1.

These arches are not so flat as they should be, but the space is insufficient to show them exactly. The lower one was usually the boundary of a very dark black, changing mass; between the lower arch and the second, the space was not so dark; and between the second and third, or upper arch, it was still lighter, excepting where the coruscations shot upwards out of the second arch, and there it was very dark. The second arch was incomplete.

The ray shooting up on the right was

brilliant in the extreme. Stars were partially visible above the third arch, but the bright ones in Ursa Major, on the left, had lost all their splendour, and the constellation could just be traced. The obscuration of the heavenly bodies reached almost to the zenith, above the centre of the arch, and was less over the extremities.

The first appearance lasted long enough for me to go into another part of the house and make a hasty sketch; on my return to the window, it was altering to the following form:

:

their action or light, as those seen in the more northern regions, nor were they coloured; but they were always accompanied by the black raponry shroud, which shid every thing elsel from view, to dots soils & 10 ti qisare

and added greatly to the lustre of their exodus froin the horizon.

Having made the foregoing sketch, I again returned to view the Aurora, which had somewhat changed its appearance. 10 1910 901 to viriss 30 950sle

4

Both ares or belts were now less distinct, the lower one almost obliterated, but still its place was well marked by the arch of vapour below, which was darker than ever. Three large spots of intense light now displayed themselves, one on the horizontal chord, and one on each side of the lower arch, whilst this lower zone shot out innumerable pencils and floods of light from its dark nucleus, the upper zone also darting forth long lines of brilliant rays; all these rays from both hands moving in a very stately march or progression from east to west.

Towards the southern and western portions of the heavens, all was clear blueblack star-light, Orion being particularly brilliant; the north was as if overspread with a thin veil, through which the stars were barely visible.

I watched these alterations of the phenomenon until after ten; and the last I observed presented this form; after which the arches became less distinct, and eventually, with the exception of the great arch, passed away.

In this fourth change the Aurora, it will be observed, resumed its three arches, but they were no longer concentric, the third being broken on the right into a portion of a fourth. Between the second and third the darkness was the darkness of blackness, whilst the third arch was light itself; but the lower arches were not so bright, and the lower nucleus was enly darkish, which was contrary to every state that it had presented, under any former observations, for several years.

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The constant arch of the Aurora of the lakes has, I believe, never been noticed in any scientific publication as is well worthy the attention of the learned. Whether it is created by a peculiar lo cality of the matter of which the substance of the Aurora is composed, or whether the Aurora itself, as the magnetic influence, has a peculiar pole from whence its effluences emanate, can scarcely be, at present, determined; but it is, at all events highly singular, that in a latitude so low as 44°, the Aurora should assume forms unknown in the higher northern regions, where its powers were hitherto supposed to have developed themselves in the highest possible state.

Not having been very well when this singular scene occurred, I did not take all that notice of it which it deserved. I trust I shall be able during the winter to note the atmospheric phenomena which accompany it, more particularly, as well as to give more detailed accounts, and more perfect drawings.

H. Solar Phenomenon.

Immediately previous to the alteration of the weather at Kingston, on Lake Onlario, after an unusual duration of severe frost, and about the middle of March, at near four o'clock in the afternoon of Sunday, observed a singular species of halo or rainbow.

The day was mild, and there was scarcely any wind, and no rain, but the face of the sky was overclouded, and the asun appeared as it does through a slight fog.o

Around the luminary, at a radial distance of perhaps twenty degrees there was a dark halo of the usual defined character and appearance; and circling this halo in various places. a rainbow was visible. This rainbow was brightest in the eastern and western parts of the halo, where it assumed that peculiar appearance which seafaring men call weatherdogs, and which are of very frequent occurrence in the northern division of the Atlantic Ocean.

It was evident from the dull whitish light that was diffused about those portions of the circumference of the halo on which the prismatic colours were not perfectly defined, that, in some situations, an observer might witness the singularly interesting spectacle of a circum-solar rainbow, in which the prismatic colours

formed a complete circle, concentric with the sun.

In the course of the winter season, during changes of the weather from frost to a thaw, I have frequently observed a small portion of a vertical arch of the above description, although the sun was hardly visible. Usually these occurrences have taken place when the sun has been at the same elevation as in the instance here described. They have always happened when there was no rain.

I am unable to say whether the appearances might not be created by reflection from the brilliant surface of such a vast body of ice, unincumbered by snow, as has been presented by Lake Ontario during the last winter, as it is difficult to account for the formation of a rainbow of so small a diameter on the usual principles, since the sun at the time was forty degrees above the horizon.

I have used the word rainbow in the above description, although it is not a correct one, as there were no appearances of rain during the presence of the phenomenon, although it is true there was a slight mist or fog.

Since writing the above, I have seen an almost complete circum-solar rainbow, which appeared at Toronto, Upper Canada, July, 1834, at seven in the morning.

MR. MACKINTOSH'S LECTURES ON HIS ELECTRICAL THEORY OF THE UNIVERSE.

On Monday, the 3rd instant, at the "Hall of Science," City-road, Mr. Mackintosh delivered the first of a series of lectures on the "Electrical Theory of the Universe,' which are to be continued every Monday evening. In the course of his introductory observations, he instanced some striking analogies from the vegetable and animal king doms, tending to prove that every thing in nature, of which we have any knowledge, has a birth, rises to maturity, and gradually declines to a final dissolution.

In the vegetable kingdom, he remarked, the young shoots of plants are mere collections of sap, vessels of the most delicate, soft, and pulpy texture, which are filled with juices in a state of the most active circulation; as the plant advances to maturity, the soft pulpy texture hardens into solid timber, and the circulation of the juices is less active; as the tree declines, the cellular texture continues to fill with solid matter, by which the circulation is impeded, until at last the circulation is stopped, and the plant dies and falls to the earth a piece of dry dead, inert, matter.

In the animal kingdom the same arrange

ment of circumstances prevail; the muscle of the young animal is soft and juicy, the bone is mere cartilage; the same process goes on as in the vegetable: at mature age the cartilage is hardened into solid bone, and the muscle is firm and compact; as old age creeps on the bones become hard and brittle, the flesh begins to ossify, the circulation is impeded more and more, and is at length entirely stopped by the ossifying process, and the animal dies of extreme old age.

These are the natural processes, from birth to death, in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, provided the constitution of the animal or plant is sound and good; and provided, also, that they escape the casual diseases and accidents incident to animal and vegetable life.

Mr. M. next proceeded to show that the earth itself is undergoing the same ossifying process; that that, which was once the soft and friable surface of the earth, is now composed of hard and impenetrable marble, in which are found the remains of animals and plants thereby proving, beyond all controversy, that that bed of marble must have been at a former period composed of soft and yielding materials.

On these principles he proceeded to contend, that at a remote period the earth existed in the soft, loose, aeriform state of a comet, that the process of condensation or ossification has been going on from the beginning, and will continue to go on until at last the whole earth will be converted into solid stone, and in that condition it will fall back into the sun, to be again converted into aeriform matter, and so on, ad infinitum.

The lecture for Monday next treats of the laws and sources of motion, which must be of special interest in the present age of steam-carriages and railroads, and will no doubt be handled in a manner equally original.

GREGORY'S IMPROVED WINDOW-CLEANER

AND FIRE-ESCAPE.

Sir, I took occasion, when introducing Mr. Ford's excellent fire escape to your readers,* to notice the apathy of the public generally to the exertions of science in the cause of humanity; in addition to the instances then adduced, another, which might with great propriety have been quoted, is the safety window-cleaner of the ingenious Gregory.

It is now upwards of seven years since I first noticed this valuable contrivance in your pages, and I regret that since its

* Vide vol. xxv. p. 130. Vol. ii. p. 248.

publication, but few comparatively have been employed; in the interim, various improvements have been introduced, all tending greatly to increase its convenience and usefulness. It is truly lamentable to hear of the accidents that are continually happening in the metropolis from the want of some such contrivance as this, for the protection of servants while cleaning the outside of windows. A recent calamity of this kind called forth the following remarks which appeared in the Morning Herald newspaper about a fortnight ago:

"Destruction of Human Life by Windowcleaning. The very inhuman practice of compelling female servants to clean the windows of their employers, though not punishable by our laws, certainly ought to be subjected to certain legal penalties by fine or imprisonment; in the first place, the party should be smartly fined, for ordering, or even permitting any house-servant, male or female, to clean the windows of their premises; and should the want of decency and Christian feeling compel their servants to do this illegal act, and should the servant be severely injured in consequence of obeying such orders, then the law should compel the employer to maintain the party until quite able to earn their bread; but in case the servant should fall and become a victim to the violent and cruel death which inevitably follows, then the employer ought to be handed over to a criminal tribunal, to be tried for the crime of manslaughter, and if convicted, then condemned to imprisonment for any term not less than one month, nor more than two years, according to the nature of the offence; a very few cases of such punishments would, we are quite certain, put a stop to this growing enormity, which, instead of being laid aside as barbarous and cruel, appears to increase in a frightful degree; so much so, that we can hardly go through a street of any length without being pained with the sight of some poor servant, generally a female, dangling on the window-sill of what is, par excellence, denominated "the drawing-room," or the second floor window; and on three several occasions have we been horror-struck by seeing those devoted victims of a miserable and inhuman spirit of economy, precipitated to the pavement, or transfixed upon the iron spikes of the railings before the house, whilst the heartless employers looked on with more indifference than if a favourite cat or monkey had been the sufferer. We ask, again, is this cruel and degrading practice to be still suffered to exist in Christian England ?-a practice that destroys annually a greater number of innocent persons by a torturing death, than are de