Page:Polar Exploration - Bruce - 1911.djvu/235

Rh, or even the Milky Way. They formed, as it were, a white veil over the sky through which stars of small magnitude were plainly visible. A clearly defined arc formed of a homogeneous luminous mass touching the horizon at both extremities, was rarely seen."

"Spectroscopic observations of the auroræ were not successful, due, apparently, to the weak intensity of the light."

"The observations of atmospheric electricity taken during the displays reveal no special effect referable to the aurora."

"An examination of the journal shows that the largest number of auroræ occur during mid-winter months, June and July."

Although, on the whole, the displays of the aurora seen by the Discovery were extremely poor, and mostly straw colour, faint pink and green only having been observed on a very few occasions, Ross, in the same longitudes, but farther to north, had brilliant displays on more than one occasion in February and March 1841.

It is very interesting to get a comparison of the Aurora Australis and Aurora Borealis by one who has seen brilliant displays of both, and in this connection Captain A. B. Armitage writes to me, saying, "The Aurora Australis could not hold a candle to the Aurora Borealis. I never saw colour so brilliant in the South as in the North; never did light