At Salerno, the walls of the
houses were rent from top to bottom. Numerous villages were half
destroyed."
Were these coincidences of extraordinary auroras with extraordinary
commotions in the physical condition of our globe merely accidental? or
are these phenomena due to a common cause? The latter supposition is
not improbable, but the question can be fully settled only by further
observations.
Mr. Meriam, "the sage of Brooklyn," as the daily journals denominate
him, considers the aurora as the result of earthquakes or volcanic
eruptions. He also says:--"The auroral light sometimes is composed of
threads, like the silken warp of a web; these sometimes become broken
and fall to the earth, and possess exquisite softness and a silvery
lustre, and I denominate them the products of the silkery of the skies.
_I once obtained a small piece, which I preserved._"
It is due to Mr. Meriam, as well as to the scientific world, to say,
that he stands alone in his convictions with regard to the aurora, both
in respect of the cause and the effect of the phenomenon.
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