JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
These wonderful images of the aurora borealis occurs as plate 4 and a text illustration on page 113 in Amedee Guillemin (1826-1893) and edited by Silvanus P. Thompson (1851-1916), the lovely Electricity and Magnetism, published in London, 1891. The aurora is about the most impressive displays in the Earth's atmosphere, and little understood, really, until the 20th century--and it wasn't until the 19th century that it was shown that there was a relationship between the Earth's magnetic field and the aurora. And remember, it wasn't until the early 19th c that even the clouds were given scientific designations (by Luke Howard)--the aurora borealis was a more difficult matter.
[Sources for the images as well as the full text of the book: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupid?key=ha001481470]
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