rig of the ship, and its particular character, insomuch that Iconfidently pronounced it to be my father's ship, the Fame, which it afterwards proved to be, though in comparing notes with my father, I found that our relative positions at the time gave our distance from one another very nearly thirty miles, being about seventeen miles beyond the horizon, and some leagues beyond the limit of direct vision. I was so struck by the peculiarity of the circumstance, that I mentioned it to the officer of the watch, stating my full conviction that the Fame was then cruising in the neighboring inlet.??

A fine exhibition of mirage was witnessed at Cleveland on the afternoon of April 12, 1848, at half past three o'clock, P. M., and which is represented in the engraving below. The steamboat New Orleans left Fairport, 30 miles from Cleveland, at 3h. 10m. P. M., and consequently at the time the mirage was seen, was below the horizon; with a glass however, two distinet images were perceived elevated in the air, and a point of land ordinarily invisible could be easily observed. This phenomenon was witnessed by a large number of persons..

These phenomena, which we have repeatedly witnessed, are owing to peculiar states of the atmosphere as regards density and moisture. Every one is aware that a straight stick appears to be crooked when thrust into the water, bending at the pli ne of the surface, and when a ray of light passes from one medium to another this refraction or bending always occurs, in a greater or less degree, according to the difference of density in the media, or the peculiar refracting power. The effect of atmospheric refraction is always to make a body appear higher than it really is, thus we see the sun, actually after sunset, the rays which proceed from

1

it up into the sky, being so bent downwards as to reach the eye. Among the most beautiful phenomena that greet the eye when contemplating the heavens in a serene night, but more particularly in autumn, the shooting stars, or meteors are preeminent; at almost all seasons of the year an attentive observer will perceive them moving swiftly over the heavens, and occasionally leaving a long luminous train behind. Their origin has not been satisfactorily traced, yet, since their occurrence in unusual numbers, and splendor, is now proved to be periodical, it is supposed they may be in some way connected with that beautiful luminous appearance called the zodiacal light. This is the opinion of Prof. Olmsted, who has devoted much time to this subject, and has been a careful investigator of the facts connected with meteors and the zodiacal light for many years. The "falling stars" seem to have been observed in the earliest times, and were considered as a presage of violent winds, thus Virgil

"And oft before tempestuous winds arise,

The seeming stars fell headlong from the skies,
And shooting through the darkness, gild the night
With sweeping lines, and long trains of light."

The number of meteors visible at ordinary seasons of the year in
one night, is quite limited, but we must remember that many of
them are very small, and probably too distant to be observed by the
unassisted eye.
We have often witnessed the passage of meteors
through the field of view of a night-glass when sweeping the
heavens for comets, and have occasionally seen some very beau-
tiful trains not at all visible to the unassisted eye.

In the year 1833 a most remarkable display of falling stars was witnessed in the United States, but was not seen either in South America or Europe. It occurred on the morning of Nov. 13th, aud exceeded in magnificence any natural phenomenon we have ever witnessed; the whole heavens seemed glowing with fire-balls, which were falling in all directions, For many successive years this exhibition was repeated on the same morning, occurring most abundantly at about 4 o'clock, and apparently radiating from one centre, but each year their numbers diminished, and we believe that now, no more are visible upon on that night H*

than upon any other. Two other periods of unusual brilliancy seem to have been pretty well determined, viz: April 21st, and Aug. 10th. It is our opinion that these meteors, and the zodiacal light, are both of terrestrial origin, i. e. have their origin within the limits of our atmosphere. The greatest height at which these bodies occur is supposed to be about 2300 miles: at this height the atmosphere would be excessively rare, but it is probable that the upper strata are composed of more inflammable materials than common air; hydrogen gas is continually being emitted by the great laboratory of nature, and ascends to the upper regions, here, when released from pressure it may expand to at least the distance, (and beyond it), where meteors occur. Sir John Leslie thus accounts for the lambent glow of the heavens in a clear night, supposing this stratum of highly inflammable gas to be phosporescent. We might perhaps trace the zodiacal light to the same source. This remarkable appearance is most conspicuous

phere about the sun. Laplace seems to have shown satisfactorily that such an atmosphere, far from extending to the earth, would not reach to even the orbit of Mercury. If this be so, we must either adopt the theory of Von Humboldt, who supposes it to be a luminous ring surrounding the sun, or conclude it is of terrestrial origin. The preceding cut represents this beautiful phenomenon. It may be seen in our northern latitade in the spring months after sunset, reaching up in the plane of the ecliptic towards the Pleiades long after sunset; it gradually sets with the stars and may again be seen in the morning before sunrise. According to Sir John Leslie, the sun, shining upon the higher strata of the atmosphere, which he supposes phosphorescent, would form a large luminous circle which we would see surrounding the sun at noon, provided it was not eclipsed by his superior brilliancy; after sunset it would appear as a segment of a circle, did not the vapors of the horizen obscure its extreme and faintest limits, hence it appears lenticular, or lens shaped as represented in the engraving

We shall conclude this chapter with a description of that well known, but yet unexplained phenomenon the Aurora Borealis or northern lights. In the high northern latitudes, beautiful dis'plays of the aurora are witnessed, and they serve to enliven the long winter nights with their bright coruscations. In our latitude the exhibitions are of a less beautiful character, and rarer, but yet so frequent that they are familiar to all. It generally appears like a bank, or cloud of light, of a pale yellow color, resting upon the northern horizon, occasionally emitting streamers which shoot up towards the zenith, and then fade, revive again, and subdivide. At other times it is seen as a luminous arch rising a short distance above the horizon, its highest altitude being in the magnetic meridian; from this, streamers ascend, and if the display is a fine one, will appear to unite in a circle nearly in the zenith, called the corona. It is a remarkable fact that great displays of the aurora are always preceeded by a disturbance of the magnetic -needle. Like the meteoric showers, there seems to be a periodical return of the auroral displays in unusual splendor, after definite intervals. One of these returns, which we well remember, occurred at intervals from November 1835, to May 1836. The

two following descriptions are from the pen of Professer Olmsted. The first display took place on the 17th of November 1835, the last on the 23d of April 1836.

"On the 17th of November, 1835, our northern hemisphere was adorned with a display of auroral lights remarkably grand and diversified. It was observed at fifteen minutes before seven o'clock, when an illumination of the whole northern sky, resembling the break of day, was discernable through the openings in the clouds. About eighteen degrees east of north, was a broad column of shining vapor tinged with crimson, which appeared and disappeared at intervals. A westerly wind moved off the clouds, rendering the sky nearly clear by eight o'clock, when two broad, white columns, which had for some time been gathering between the stars Aquila and Lyra on the west, and the Pleiades and Aries on the east, united above, so as to complete a luminous arch, spanning the heavens a little south of the prime vertical. The whole northern hemisphere, being more or less illuminated, and separated from the southern by this zone, was thrown into striking contrast with the latter, which appeared of a dark slate color, as though the stars were shining through a stratum of black clouds. The zone moved slowly to the south until about nine o'clock, when it had reached the bright star in the Eagle in the west, and extended a little south of the constellation Aries in the east. From this time it began to recede northward, at nearly a uniform rate, until twenty minutes before eleven, when a vast number of columns, white and crimson, began to shoot up, simultaneously, from all parts of the northern hemisphere, directing their course towards a point a few degrees south and east of the zenith, around which they arranged themselves as around a common focus. The position of this point was between the Pleiades and Alpha Arietis, and south of the Bee.

Soon after eleven o'clock, commenced a striking display of those undulatory flashes denominated merry dancers. They consisted of thin waves or sheets of light, coursing each other with immense speed. Those undulations which play upon the surface of a field of rye, when gently agitated by the wind, may give the reader a faint idea of these auroral waves. One of these