The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1870-04-08
sUs. An AND: nousrAn AGAIN
A sc11fls1 0N 1nD War PATE
70 ~. Rn,x. NV 1osrr-WIST: E

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a scIS1fpf az 1nD War PATE
70 1.s 4onse new Hosrs'wEsr:
A copy Of the Norm WEST. containing
= lcttcs fr6an Professor Swallow, account.
ing for the remarkable condition Of the sun
and things ut Boulder, came under my no.
ticc ~
|. The article which occssioncd the Profes-
sOr's letter have not seen, but presume It
! wAs statement 10 the effect that old Sol
had creDs mn towa ard the zenith some seven
or eight degrees since some former observa.
ton. II that was the gtst of the affair,
must say that had Il not done - 1t would
have been still more remarkable.
Of course the Professor knew that the
change OF equatorial distance or dccl'nA'
ton Is what would most readily account for
change in altitude ut equal times ON sue.
the Boulder gentlemen weru unacquainted
with the fact Ut tue suns zen.tA Gi;inacc
being less in summer than in winter, would
bc . presumption indeed.
Acting upo:, the supposition that tho
BOulderilcs were in earnest III the matter,
and tho. the mean altitude Of the sun for
corresponding days in different years WIS
meant when u change So great Us eight or
ten degrees was noticed. with all due DEF.
ference to the Professors tl,c',ry of ''rcfrac.
ton" and '.change of level, would the IF.
fccis produced ~ either Of these agencies
he sufficient u account for even three de-.
grees Of CHANGE! Considering the laws of
re''action Us given by Descar'cs:
whatever the obliquy Of the incident my, the ratio
Ut the angie of refrcsioa 10 constant for the same
two media but varies with different media.
The ncice.t sud the ,cfrsctei ray are In the same
the two media
And also by the Investigations which have
led to Tire discovery Of these rules. We see
that it las been demonstrated that rcfraction,
automatically considered, except in the
horizon, varies nearly rs the Tangent of the
apparent zenith distance. Nearly, because
the retroactive power Of the air varies with
us density, and hence the rcfractiOn must
vary with the height Of the barometer aid
thermometer.
The refractions which have place when
the barometer stands ut 298 or rs some u.
tronomers call it 80 inches. and tho tl,crmo-
meter at so degrees Fahrenheit, arc called
mean rcfrxctiOns.
The rcfractions corresponding to any other
height of the barometer or thermometer,
arc obtained by seeking the requisite correc.
tons 10 " applied TO mean refructiOnS. ON
the HYPOTHESIS that the rctrnction is directly
prOpOrIipned to the density Of the atn,os-
phcrc.
The mean refraction Of the horizon being
nearly "a min. Of arc and the SUMS apparent
diameter being - minutes, then this would
tend 10 lcngthcn the days by elcvating the
sun about his own size above the horizon lie.
fore he had risen Or after setting
Let US suppose that the sun WAS in the
most favorable place for being rcfvactcd,
that is. in the horizon, and also that the
barometer was favorable TO the remarkable
extent Of ten inches added, equal to 40
inches, and that the temperature was as.
s'sling this State of affairs by freezing itself
down 10 100 degrees below zero, the result
Ut this combination Of extraordinary con.
ditiOn Of things would he . rcfraciion of
one degree Of arc. lacking nineteen seconds.
From, this We would judge that. rcfractively
considered, the arrangements for the phe.
nomenon ut Boulder were furnished On the
scale of ten times or ut least six times tho
prOpitious style just mentioned.
The change Of level" base Of reasoning
would be most excellent ii the Boulder
could 6c changed as only levels can DC
changed, 10 another location on the earth
Southern California or Tennessee, for in.
stance. For if the Boulder is lsesUming the
SEA, Of something rrMa: kaOlc in the form of
the carih's Obla!encss. even this would not
account for much Of this phenomenon.
The pendulum and barometer could ret that
matter Alright in our minds within their
scope of determining such things. unless
the changes were 80 vast as to amount to
almost turning inside out of tho Garth.
To argue that the level of the place was
changing from water or mercury level to
any angle Of inclination would not change
the zenith distances of anything in our CT
other systems
1t is very probable THAT yc Boulder gents
wear tue Grccian bend, throwing their gaze
out Of plumb. or tina; their spy.glasscs arc
twisted, Or that the sun was viewed through
M inverted tumbler, or that they stand on
their heads, or something else. Anything
you please, except accusing old Sol Of ,rrcg.
ularaties S. VIC.
Fort Benton, II. +, April Sd, 1870
eve cannot permit the disparagement of
tho Boulderites to 81 unnoticed. Mr.. Jas.
Stuart. who has just returned from there
ccriiaes that the statement of 50 or 100 diff
ference in apparent altitude of the sun q
observed from the cabin in the canyon is an
actual fsct.-ED. n. n. W.