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. [Sidenote: 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:— [Sidenote: Parts of the Aurora: beams, flashes, and arches.] “For the sake of perspicuity I shall describe the several parts of the Aurora, which I term beams, flashes, and arches. “The beams are little conical pencils of light, ranged in parallel lines, with their pointed extremities towards the earth, generally in the direction of the dipping-needle. [Sidenote: Formation of the Aurora.] “The flashes seem to be scattered beams approaching nearer to the earth, because they are similarly shaped and infinitely larger. I have called them flashes, because their appearance is sudden and seldom continues long. When the Aurora first becomes visible it is formed like a rainbow, the light of which is faint, and the motion of the beams undistinguishable. It is then in the horizon. As it approaches the zenith it resolves itself into beams which, by a quick undulating motion, project themselves into wreaths, afterwards fading away, and again and again brightening without any visible expansion or contraction of matter. Numerous flashes attend in different parts of the sky.” [Sidenote: Arches of the Aurora.]