The remarkable displays of August 28th and September 2d show the
fallacy of his conclusions in this respect.
Mairon and Dalton had also thought that the aurora borealis was a
cosmical, and not an atmospheric phenomenon. But M. Biot, who had
himself had an opportunity of observing the aurora in the Shetland
Isles in 1817, had already been led to recognize it as an atmospheric
phenomenon, by the consideration that the arcs and the coronae of the
aurora in no way participate in the apparent motion of the stars from
east to west,--a proof that they are drawn along by the rotation of the
earth. Hence, almost all observers have arrived at the same
conclusions; we will in particular cite MM. Lottin and Bravais, who
have observed more than a hundred and forty aurorae boreales. It is
therefore now clearly proved that the aurora borealis is not an
extra-atmospheric phenomenon. To the proofs drawn from the appearance
of the phenomenon itself we may add others deduced from certain effects
which accompany it, such as the noise of crepitation, which the
dwellers nearest to the pole affirm that they have heard when there is
the appearance of an aurora, and the sulphurous odor that accompanies
it.
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