The Grant County herald. (Big Stone City, Grant County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1883, 1879-08-23
Historical -DarI1euing-.

Not ieW persons appear 70 have been
much exercised by prognostlcation of
IN approaching period Of sun -darkcnlno
to extend over several DAYS. History
does record instances in which the sun
has been abnomaliy obscurGd or ii.
ilght paicd to such an extent that stars
have come into view In the DAYTIME. and
Erman, llumboIt, and other writers have
brought these occasions int prominent
notice, the former III connection Wild the
presumed passage Of dense mctc~ric
streams between the earth and the slln.
The earliest mention Of such i phtnome-
non appears to bc IN the year D. q. A..
about the time of the death of Julius
Caesar, when we read ia Plutavh and
Dio Cassius that the sun was paler than
usual Tor q whole year. and gave less
heat, the air continuing cold and misty.
The darkness for two hours on August ~
\. .. 3o8, appears TO Hayc preceded the
great earthquake Of Nicomcoia Twoycars
later, IN all the eastern provinces of the
Roman Empire, we are told, there was
"caligo q primo auIorr oxo1tu atusoue
merid1em, and the stars were se,f. tac
further description beng rather applica
bic to 4 total solar eclipse but neither the
eclipse Of March 4, 800, nor that Of Au
gu / % would be visible in those parts.
Again when Alaric appeared before Rome,
the darkness was such that stars were
seen ~ the di.ytime lSchnurrer's Chroaak
rs ,<sst T'-..lA4Ssssz>a>lls...
Ghfonoaogiaues Of the Able Lengler nu-
fresnoy, Alaric Invested Rome A. D. 400, !.
and BECAME master ofthe cte on, August
"a, 410.- There was visible eclipse of /
the sun on June 1s.5 Of the latter wear,
therefore while the aiege was in progress;
but on calculating the. circumstances
under WHICH it would be seen at Rome,
introducing the latest lunar elements, it |
appears tnat little more tnan half the suns
disk would be covered at the greatest
phase, about 2h. 4Um. D. M, and no SEN
sible diminution of ofsunlignt would be oc-
casioned py the eclipse. In 536, 767,
and S26 we find mention of long periods |
OF diminished sunlight. Schnurrer re-
cords that in 7;5, year after the Saracens |
had been driven back beyond the Pyre-
nees, consequent on their defeat at Tours. |
''the sun darkened in an alarming man |
ner on August ~; there appeared to be
no eclipse by the moon but rather an in
terruptlon from some mcteoric subs tance.' |
In 934, according to a Portuguese his
torian, 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 was suddenly restored. in 1903.
on September 80, not 21, as given in some
Of the translations Of Humbolt's Cosmos,
Schnurrer relates that there was dark
enlng OF the sun which lasted three hours,
and after which it had peculiar color,
which occasioned great alarm. In another
place we read Emit cclipsis Soils | Kal.
0ctob. tere tres horas: Sol circa meridiem
dire nigrcscebat::" there was no visible
eclipse at this time, and the November
eclipse was central only in the southern
parts Of the earth. A century LATER or in
! une, ilGl, according to Schnurrer, the
sun was again darkencd, with certain at
tending effects upon nature. Here the
cause is easily found: on June % there was
= total eclipse, in which the moons shad-
ow traversed the continent OF Europe
from Holland to the Crimea; the eclipse
was total in England between the coasts
oI Cumberland and Yorkshire. Erman
refers to sun darkening on FEBRUARY 1o,
iob, which was accompanied by me
,eors, and we read in the cometographies
1naf on the 4th, or, according TO others.
on the 9Th, Of February, IN this wear. d
star was seen from the third to the ninth
nouf OF the day, which was distant from
the sun 'only a foot and half.'' Mar
thew Paris and Matthew Of Westminster
term this star comet, and we may take
It 70 have been the same which, later in
the same month. ~as observed in China
under the sign Pisces, and which f.t one
time was supposed to have been identical
however, would not appear to have been
near the earth. even III tie
assumption Of a denscr constellation than
usual with comets, to account for
dluinution Of the solar rays by its II