THE first work, devoted entirely to the study of Polar Auroras, was written in France; it is
entitled Traité Physique et Historique de l'Aurore Boréale,'and was published in 1733 by De
Mairan, in the'Mémoires' of the'Académie des Sciences.'We must allow a century to elapse
before we find anything to be compared with it in importance and volume, when the
work'Aurores Boréales' appeared in the collection of the voyages of the Northern Scientific
Commission on the corvette Recherche.'This volume, accompanied by magnificent plates-of …