Muscatine journal. [volume] (Bloomington, Iowa) 1849-185?, 1853-08-12
VOL. VINO. IL.
Aurora Berealls,

| hItVEh SSf fSakks,
A vast number Of theories and hy.
potheses have engaged the attention aud
ingenuity of philosophers regarding the
Aurois Borealis Among The other
things il has been ascfibed to PARTICLES
thrown of from the suns atmos phere.
10 reflections Of The suu upon the polar
ices, 10 broken up comets. and 10 cleo
tricity in vacuo. while In an ca rlier age
it awakened superstiious ierrors. being
deened ominous Of war, peslilence and
a fearful supernatural precursor of tbs
day Of judgment.
| The revelations OF science have brushed
away those delusions. end late expert
men!s and discove ncs show that IL is
an atmospheric phenomenon, that all
the elements necessary 20 account for i,
exist in the air, and are regulated and
governed by atmospherical laws. as
| plainly as the rainbsv. or she hues hich
glow in the evening sky.
The basis, or "subs;ra;e" Of the Al
Fora is unmistaka bly, light, thin, ,rans
parent vapor, approaching the conditiou
OF the cloud called Circus by meteorol.
ogisls, each stratum peculiarly susceptible
o! magnetic influences.
Mr. Faraday, in his recent ex plana,ion
of the power and forca of cicero mag.
netism, states that ''the ma magnetic force
invests the earth from the pole, rising
in one hemisphere. aud passing owe.
the equatorial regions in the other
hemisphere, which completes its ci..
cult OF power.
The 'lines of magnetic force" rise q,
great angles in the high than in the
equatorial latitudes. In the higher lat.
itudes they encounter, and act upon, and
lrradiate the vapoTous media which form
the basis Of the Aurora ls---while
the corruscations--the fantastic motions
the sunny hues--the almost heat
lightning glances, and the prismatic
colors are due TO the electro. magnetic
light reflected on the watery part Of the
vapor, and the che emical agilations Of
the elements, in lhe mysterious me-
biological process.
IL appears from the foregoing data
that the Aurora Borealis consists of
translucent hummid vapor, analogous
TO and not higher than the clouds in.
flated, condensed, spread abroad, and
otherwise modified BY gassss and chem.
ical afhnities, and illuminated by :
neurological process evolved"
History OF Coal - Bituminous coal.
or sea coal, was known upwards of
thousand years ago, in the year OF our
Lord S53, but did not come into general
use until the sixteenth century, aud
was not used in the manufacture OF iron
until the seventeenth century. Anthra-
cite coal came gradually into use so late
as the nineteenth century, and was not
used in the manufacture OF iron until
about sixteen years ogo. So early as
1890, anthracite coal was known to
abound in the county Of Schuylkill, in
The State of Pennsylvania; but II being
different quality from tina t known rs sea
or bituminons coal. and being hard Of
ignition, it was deemed worthless until
the year lTS5, when blacksmith of
Pennsylvania named Whetstone brough,
II into notice. His success in burning il
caused people to dig for it. but when
found every person connected with the
enterprise had to experiment on it's
combustion, and vain were the attempts
TO burn IL by the majority of them, and
all came to the conclusion taa. it would
not come into general use. About the
year 1900. MIR. Morris, who had large
tract OF land in Schuy kill county, Penn
sylvania, procured quantity OF coal
theretrom, and took il TO Philadeiphia
city, but he was unable, with all his he
roic exertions, to bring it into notice.
and abandoned all his plans. From that
lime until 1906 it was talked of as a
humbug; when accidentally bed Of coal
was found in digging a tail race for
water wheel tor Jorge, which induced
another blacksmith. David Berlin. 10
make trial of it. His success was
generally made known, which induced
Others to try to burn Pennsylvania coal.