friend of Luther and as one of the editors of his works, was born in 1519 in the county of Mansfeldt, or, more probably, in the town of Weimar. After completing his education at the university of Wittenberg, where he heard the lectures of Luther, he became tut or to Count Mansfeldt, and in the war of 1544-5 accompanied the army as field-preacher. For some months afterwards he resided with Luther as his famulus or private secretary, and was present at his death in 1546. In the following year he spent six months in prison along with John Frederick, elector of Saxony, who had been captured by the emperor, Charles V. He held for some years the office of court-preacher at Weimar, but, owing to theological disputes, was compelled to resign this office in 1561. In 1566 he was appointed to the Lutheran church at Erfurt, which post he held, though not without serious differences with his fellow-clergymen, till his death in 1575. Besides taking a share in the first collected or Jena edition of Luther s works, Aurifaber sought out and published at Eisleben in 1564-5 several writings not included in that edition. He also published Luther’s Letters (1556, 1565), and Table Talk (1566).
ATJRIFABER, JOANNES, a Lutheran divine, born at Breslau in 1517. He was educated at Wittenberg, and was there specially attracted to Melanchthon, with whom he ever afterwards remained on terms of close friendship. After graduating in 1538 he spent twelve years as docent at the university, and having then received his doctorate of divinity, was appointed professor of divinity and pastor of the church of St Nicholas at Rostock. He distinguished himself by his prudence and conciliatory disposition, took a leading part in the composition of the regulations for the Mecklenburg Church, and was successful in allay ing some religious disputes in the town of Liibeck. Tha Grand-duke Albert of Prussia, who was very desirous of healing the differences in the Prussian Church caused by the discussion of Osiander’s doctrines, was attracted by Aurifaber, invited him to Konigsberg in 1553, and in the following year appointed him to the professorship of divinity in that university, and to the presidency of the Samland diocese. Aurifaber, however, found it impossible to conciliate all parties, and in 1565 returned to Breslau, where, for the three remaining years of his life, he dis charged the joint offices of pastor in the church of St. Elizabeth and director of the Lutheran Church and schools. He died 19th October 1568.
AURILLAC, the capital of the department of Cantal, France, situated on the right bank of the Jourdanne, which is here crossed by a handsome bridge. It contains tribunals of primary instance and commerce, a communal college, societies of agriculture, arts, and commerce, a public library, and a museum. Most of the town is of comparatively modern construction, its more ancient build ings having suffered severely in the religious wars of the 16th century. Of highest claims to antiquity are portions of the castle of St Etienne, the church of St, Geraud, and a Benedictine abbey, which is regarded by many as the original nucleus round which Aurillac gathered. There is a statue of Sylvester II., who was a native of the town, and was educated in the abbey, which soon afterwards became one of the most famous schools of France. The manufactures consist of tapestry, lace, cutlery, paper, leather, &c., and a considerable number of horses are bred. Population in 1872, 11,098.
AURORA, the Roman personification of the dawn of day, corresponding to the Greek goddess Eos (q.v.).
AURORA POLARIS
AURORA POLARIS, Aurora Borealis and Australis,Polar Light, Northern Lights, or Streamersan electrical meteor, appearing most frequently in high latitudes, in the form of luminous clouds, arches, and rays, of which the latter sometimes meet at a point near the zenith, and form what is called a boreal crown. The arches are sometimes single; sometimes several concentric ones are seen, and they are usually nearly stationary, or move slowly southward. They cross the magnetic meridian at right angles, and, therefore, in England, have their centres nearly N.N.W. The rays rise perpendicularly from the arches, but are sometimes seen detached, or when the arch is below the horizon. They are parallel to the dipping needle, or, in other words, to the curves of magnetic force; and the boreal crown, at which they appear to meet, is merely an effect of perspective. This point is in England about 70° in altitude, and nearly S.S.E. of the zenith. The rays are seldom stationary, but appear and disappear suddenly, shooting with great velocity up to the zenith, and moving slowly eastward or westward, but most commonly the latter. They sometimes cover the whole sky, and frequently have a strong tremulous motion from end to end. This tremulous motion is sometimes seen also in the arches when near the zenith; and Benjamin V. Marsh mentions a case in which the matter of the arch had the appearance of a rapid torrent flowing from east to west. A rare form of aurora is that in which the rays appear to hang from the sky like fringes or the folds of a mantle. The ordinary colour of the aurora is a pale greenish-yellow, but crimson, violet, and steel-colour are not uncommon. Crimson auroras have often been imagined by the superstitious to be omens of war, pestilence, and famine; and lively imaginations have seen in their motions
“ Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds
In ranks, and squadrons, and right form of war.’
They were called by the ancients chasmata, bolides, and trabes, according to their forms and colours. In Shetland, where they are very frequent, and in the north of Scotland, they are known as the “merry dancers” (perhaps the ancient capræ saltantes); while, from a curious passage in Sirr’s Ceylon and the Cingalese, vol. ii. p. 117, it seems that the aurora, or something like it, is occasionally visible in Ceylon, and that the natives call it the Buddha lights. Mr. Jansen says, however, that the great aurora of 4th February 1872, which was seen at Bombay, was not visible in Ceylon. In many parts of Ireland a scarlet aurora is supposed to be a shower of blood, and under this name is not unfrequently mentioned in the old annals, always in connection with some battle or the murder of a great chief. The earliest mentioned was in 688, in the Annals of Cloon-mac-noise, after a battle between Leinster and Munster, in which Foylcher O’Moyloyer was slain. It was observed at Edessa in 502. and in Syria in 1097, 1098, and 1117.
The only thing resembling a distinct history of this History phenomenon is that which has been given by Dr Halley, in the Philosophical Transactions, No. 347. The first account he gives, taken from a book entitled A Description of Meteors, by W. F., D.D., reprinted at London in 1654, describes the appearance of what is called by him burning spears, which were seen at London on the 30th January 1560. The next appearance, according to the testimony of Stow, was on the 7th October 1564. In 1574 also, according to Camden and Stow, an aurora borealis was observed two nights successively, viz., on the 14th and 15th of November, having much the same appearances as that described by Dr Halley in 1716. Again, an aurora
