Read more
Excerpt from On the Aurora Borealis and the Aurora Australis
Gmelin, the botanist, describes the splendid exhibitions of aurora he had witnessed in Siberia as follows: It begins with solitary pillars of light, rising in the north and almost at the same time in the northeast, which, gradually swelling, at last comprehend 'a large part of the firmament,,rush about from place to place with incredible velocity, and finally cover the whole sky up to the zenith, and produce the impression of a vast tent hung in the heavens, and glittering with gold, rubies, and sapphire. A more beautiful spectacle cannot be imagined. But' whoever should see such a northern light for the first time could not behold it without terror. So constantly accompanied is it, as I have been informed by several intelligent persons, with hissings and cracklings like those of fireworks. The hunters who go in search of the blue fox to the confines of the Frozen Ocean are frequently surprised by the unexpected appearance of this meteor; their dogs are frightened by it to such a degree that they fall to the ground and will not move till the noise has The inhabitants have a phrase to express this particular noise, which translated means, The raging host is passing. Cavallo, referring to the aurora, says: Sometimes these coruscations.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
