The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1880-01-08
HISTORICAL SUN DARKENINes.
Diminished Light of the Sun Not Caused by
Eclipses.

Eclipses.
In 536, 567 and 626 we find mention
of long periods of diminished sunlght.
Schnurrer records that, in 733, year
after the Saracens had been driven
back bey yond the PyIenees, consequent
on their defeat at Tours, @the sun
darkened in an alarming manner on
Aug. 10; there appeared to be no eclipse
by the moon, but rather an Interrupt
ton from some meteoric substance"
There was an eclipse of the sun, annu-
lar, but nearly total, on the morning of
Chronicle" which tells us that "the
suns disk was like black shield" The
near coincidence of date suggests, in
this case, connection between dark
ness and the eclipse. In 934, according
to Portuguese historian, the sun lost
its ordinary light for several months;
and 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 sun
shine was suddenly restored. In 1901,
on Sept. 29-not 81, as given in some
of the translations of Humboldts
cosmos -Schnurrerrelates that there
was darkening of the sun which lasted
three hours, after which it had q
peculiar color, which occasioned great
alarm. A century later-or in June,
| 1191, according to Schnurrer-the sun
was again dsrkened, with certain at
tendant effects upon nature. Here the
cause is easily found: On June %
there was a total eclipse, in which the
moons shadow traversed 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 Feb. 12, HOG, which was accompa-
MED by meteors, and we read in the
cometographics that on the 4th-or. ac-
cording to others, on the 5th-of Feb
rusry, in this year, star was seen from
the third to the ninth hour of the day,
which was distant froln the sun only a
foot and half" Matthew Paris and
Matthew of Westminster term this star
comet, and we may take it to have
been the same which, later in the
month, was observed in China under
the sign Pisces, and which at one time
was supposed to be identical with the
great comet of 1880; this body, howev
er, probably was not sufficiently
near the earth, and even on the assump
ton of denser composition than usua
with comets, to account for diminu
ton of the solar rays by its interven
ton. On the last day of February, 1906
according to Spanish writer, there
was complete darkness for six hours
In 1241, "fiye months after the Mongo
battle of Leignitz," tine sun was SO OBJ
scured and the darkness became so grea
that the stars were seen at the nintl
hour about Michaelmas. In this case
again, the darkness referred to was un
doubtedly due to the total eclipse o
Oct. 6, of which Prof. Schiaparelh ha
collected full account from the Ital
ian writer's. Lastly, in 1874, from
April 1926, Kep1er relates, on the au
thority of Gemma, "The sun appeare,
as though sufused with blood, an,
many stars were visible at MONDAY.
Schnurrer thought this phenomena
was what the Germans call Hobern
rauch," notwithstanding the visibilit
of the stars. From the above brie
summary of what have been considere
sun darkenings we see that in severs
cases the diminution of light has bee
due to the ordinary effects of toti
eclipse, while it is clear that there al
no grounds in the historical evidenc
for any prediction of period of darl
ness. The nervous in these matter
and it would really appear that sue
5 exist, may take consolation therefron
:, Nature.