The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-10-12 00:00:00

FALLS OF DUST ON THE ATLANTIC.

About the latitude of the Cape Verde Islands on the
Atlantic, it is a frequent experience of voyagers to
observe falls of red dust and a dry kind of mist. The
material of the dust-mass was examined microsco-
pically many years ago by Ehrenberg, and his opinion
was that small particles carried aloft from all coun-
tries here formed a transparent dust zone, from which
they sometimes sank down, and in whirling movement
came to the earth's surface. The material of observa-
tion open to Ehrenberg was somewhat scanty. The
phenomenon has therefore been lately studied anew,
and in a more thorough way. by Herr Hellman, who
examined the log-books of 1,196 ships that had passed
through the region in question during the years
1854 to 1871. He deals with the case chiefly from a
meteorological point of view, and the following are
some of the facts elicited. Most of the dust-falls occur
in the zone of the Atlantic between 9 deg. and 16 deg
N. South of 6 deg. N. they are extremely rare, and
the furthest south hitherto was in 2 56 N. 26 W.
The two furthest west were both in 38 5 W., both
about 300 miles from Cape Verde. Dust-falls often
occur simultaneously at very different points of the
" Dunkel Meer," or Dark Sea (as Ehrenberg called
it); in one case they were 150 miles apart. They
also often last for several days, e. g. ten (April.
1859). Surfaces of very different size, up to 100)000
square miles' may receive dust-falls. There is a
yearly period in the frequency of the falls. It seems
that near the African coast most occur in winter;
further west, in the early spring. The direction of
the wind during dust-falls was from the east quad-
rant, and most frequently N.N.E. to N.E. The dust-
falls observed are very irregularly distributed over
the years in question. Of 63, taken lat random, there
were eight falls of sand and three of sand or dust.
Sometimes sand and dust fall simultaneously. The
dust-falls with great extent east add west are denser
the nearer the African coast. In 40 out of 65 instances
the colour of the dust was red. Sometimes there is no
oolouration. The dry mist of the Dark Sea is in casual
connexion with the dust-falls. Herr Hellmann con-
cludes from the facts that the dust material comes
principally from Africa and from the Western Sahara.
The possibility of occasional mixture of particles from
South America is not excluded. The distribution of
the dust-falls, both in space and in time (they follow
the movements of the trade winds), supports the
hypothesis, as also does the fact that the falling
material is coarser in the east than in the west.

INDIAN RELISH.—One among the condimcut9 for
which India is famous was named after the King of
Oude. But the King of Oude's Sauce is nothieg tO
the Ameer of Afghanistan's.—. Punch. • - tekul

JOCULAR CUTTINGS FROM AMERICAN
- PAPERS.
A generous New Yorker, who has been spending his
summer in Montgomery, lost his pocket-book, containing
440 dollars, on the road to Westfield, Mass., the other day.
It was found by the stage driver and returned to the Yorker,
who counted it over and said: "Yes, it's all here. Much
obliged. I'll speak of your honesty to my New York
friends."

A member of a fashionable up-town congregation in
New York city called at a music store and inquired, "flays
you the notes of a piece called the ' Song of Solomon ' " add-
ing "Our pastor referred to it yesterday morning as an
exquisite gem, and my wife would like to learn to play it."

The following cruel reminiscenoe of a fashionable
seaside resort is given by an American contemporary. "A
seaside belle left her bathing-shoes hanging oat of her hotel
window to dry, and the next day the local paper announced
that the hotel had put up new awnings of a unique design"
An Indianopolis barber who abandoned his business
and went into the ministry was suddenly called upon one
Sunday to baptize three cindidates. He got along very well,
but after baptizing the first he astonished his congregation
by lustily shouting, "Next shaver."
When a Philadelphia critic wishes to be very ex-
pressive, he compliments a dramatic star by saying that
"she shines like a brass tack in an old hair trunk."

The following paragraph appears in an Araerican
engineering paper :—"Au exchange says that the chief en-
gineer of the Chicago and North-Western hallway, to test
the smoothness of the track, placed a full glass of water on
the seat of a Pulman palace car the other day, and carried
It right through from Chicago to Omaha without losing a
drop. Thinking that specific gravity might have something
to do with it, next trip he tried a glass of whisky, and when
he examined the glass at the first station out, he found it as
dry as the desert of Sahara at high noon."

AMERICAN ADVERTISING.—When you aretaking a
stroll in the dark dense forest, or amid the mountain's lofty
crags and fortresses, and hear a deep bus rotas waking the
echoes witk its resonance, do not be alarmed! 'Pis not a
bandit bold, nor a communistic leader drilling his forces, nor
yet an escaped lunatic, but only the old man of the woods
warning all persona to use none other than Donnelly's Yeast
Powders.