Note 184 — Chapter X
Reading edition
“The Aurora Borealis is certainly in some measure a magnetical phenomenon; and if iron were the only substance capable of exhibiting magnetic effects, it would follow that some ferruginous particles must exist in the upper regions of the atmosphere. The light usually attending this magnetical meteor may possibly be derived from electricity, which may be the immediate cause of a change in the distribution of the magnetic fluid, contained in the ferruginous vapours which are imagined to float in the air.”—Lecture on Magnetism: Young’s Lectures on Natural Philosophy, p. 533.