The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1879-08-21
Historical Sun-Darkenings.

Not few persons appear to have been
much exercised by prognostication Of
an approaching period Of sun darkenlng
to extend over several days. History
does record instances in which the sun
has been abnormally obscured, or its
light paied to such an cXtcLt that stars
have come into view in the daytime, and
Erman, Humholt and other writers have
brought these occasions int prominent
notice, the former in connection with the
presumed passage of dense n,etesrie
streams between the earth and the sun,
The earliest mention of such a phenomc
non appears to be in the year b. C. A,
about the time of the death of Julius
Cesar, when we read in Plutarch and
Dio Cassius that the sun was paler than
usual for whole year. and gave less
heat, the air continuing cold and misty.
The darkness Tor two hours on August 222,
A. d. 35S, appears to have preceded the
great earthquake of Nicomedia. Two years
later, in all the eastern provinces Of the
Roman Empire, We are told, there was
"caligo a primo auror;e cXortu adusquc
mcridicm,' and the stars were seen, the
further description beng rather applica
bic to a total solar eclipse; but neither the
eclipse Of March a., 3G0, nor that Of Au
GU 2S would be visible in those parts.
Again when Alaric appeared before Rome,
the darkness was such that stars Were
seen in the daytime tSchnurrer's Ch,o .,h
der bouche"). Following the Tabttttes
Chronologtqt,s of the Able Lcnglet Du-
fresnoy, Alaric invested Rome A. D. 400,
and became master of the city on August
4 ,i.sI I,Ir of
the sun on June 18 Of the latter year,
therefore while the siege was in progress
but on calculating the circumstances
under which it Aould be seen at Rome,
Introducing the latest lunar elements, il
appears tnat little more an half the suns
ASK would be covered ut the greatest
phase, about Oh. 40 m. p. M, and no SEN
siblc diminution ofsunlignt would be oc-
casioned by the eclipse. In $50, '761,
and S2G we find mention OF long periods
Of diminished sunlight Schnurrer re-
cords that in 1913, n year after the Saracens
had been driven back beyond the Pyre-
nees, consequent on their defeat at Tours,
"thc sun darkened in an alarming man
ncr on August 19; there appeared to be
no eclipse by the moon but rather an in
corruption from some mcteoric SUBJ tance.
In 93l, according to a Portuguese his
toliap, the sun lost its ordinary hight for
several months; this is followed by the
doubtful statement that an opening in
the sky seemed to take place, with many
flashes Of lightning and the full blaze OF
sunshine vas suddenly restored. In 1903.
on September 30, not 81, as given in some
Of the translations Of Humbolt's Cosmos,
Schnurrer relates that there was dark
ening of the sun which lasted three hours,
and after which it had peculiar color,
which occasioned great alarm. In another
place we read: :"Fnit eclipsis Soils II Kal.
Octob. fere tres horas :'Soi cIrca meridiem
dire nigrescebat:n there was no visible
eclipse at this time, and the November
eclipse was central only III the southern
parts Of the earth. A century later, or in
June, 1851, according to Schnurrer, the
sun was again darkened, with certain at
tending effects upon nature. Here tho
cause is easily found on June 23 there was
a total eclipse, in which the moons shad-
ow travcrscd the continent OF Europe
from Holland to the Crimea; the eclipse
was total in England between the coasts
OF Cumberland and Yorkshire. Erman
refers to a sun darkening on FEBRUARY 12,
ll06, which was accompanied by me
teors, and we read in the cometographies
that on the 4th, or, according to others,
on the 5th, of February, IN this year, a
! star vas seen from the third to the ninth
hour of the day, " hich was distant from
the sun "only foot and half" Mat
| thew Paris and Matthew of Westminster
term this star comet, and we may take
1t to have been the same which, later in
-, rv,N
| under the sign Pisces, and hich at one
time was supposed to have been identical
! with the great comet of 1880; this body,
however, would not appear to have been
sufficiently near the earth, even on the
assumption of "a denscr constitution than
usual with comets, to account for
dlminution of the solar rays by its
Intervention. On the last day of
February, l2GG, according to a Spanish
writer there was complete darkness for
six hours. In 1241, five months after the
| Mongol battle of Leignitz," the sun as
| go obscure and the darkness became so
great that the stars were seen at the ninth
| hour about Michaelmas. In this case,
again the darkness referred to was un-
| doubtedly due to the total eclipse on Oc-
tober 6, Of which Professor Schiaparelh
has collected full account from the
Italian writer's. Lastly in i547, from
April 23-25 Kelpler relates, on the au-
rhority of Gemma. ssThe sun appeared
as though suffused with blood, and many
stars were visible at MONDAY
From the above brief summary OF what
have been considered abnormal sun-dark-
enin.s, we see that in several cases the
diminutpn of light has been due to the
ordinary effects of a total eclipse, hile
il is clear that there are no grounds ln.the
historical evidence for my prediction OF
period of darkness. The nervous IN
these matters-and it would really ap-
pear that such exist-may therefore etis-
miss their fears.-Harpsr Wceks'sssf e