Morning journal and courier., 1883-12-07

teIescopie meteors linear the sum-" This, of course, means that they were near the appar- ent place of the sun in the sky, and not liter ally near to that body, for the sun had already set at the time, and if what Prof. Brooks saw was really meteor swarm, the meteors must have been in the upper regions of our atnlos- phere. Supposed flights of meteors seen through telescopes have occasionally turned out to be focks of birds but an observer as careful and experienced as Prof. Brooks seems to be would not be likely to make such mis- take as that. Assuming, then, that he really did see extraordinary swarm of meteors, and remembering that meteors large enough to be visible without telescopes, and some of great size and brilliancy, have recently been unusually numerous, the suggestion that the red light seen in the sky for several evenings past long after sunset may be caused by re- hection from clouds of meseoric dust in the upper portion of the atmosphere is not un- natural. There are several reasons for think ing that the strange light is the result of some such cause as the presence of the me-
 teoric dust rather than of differences of den sity in the atmosphere leading to extraordi- nary refraction. In the first place, the phe- nemenon has not only been visible over an immense extent of territory, but it has lasted several days, and has been seen in the east before sunrise we'll as in the west after sunset so that any abnormal refraction in the atmosphere would have to be of almost in- credible persistence in order to account for the observed appearances. Besides, during this time there have besn considerable atmos- pheric changes, especially in respect to tenn perature. These remarkable sunset displays have also been accompanied by notably hazy appearance of the sky.
 It is well known that the earth is daily and nightly pelted with millions of meteors, the vast majority of which are almost instantly consumed by the intense heat developed as they dash into our atmosphere. The products of the combustion of these meteors filter slowly down through the air, and have been found in the shape of metallic dust on the snow fields in the arctic regions on mountain peaks in Europe and in other small localities being recognizable by their peculiar chemical composition. It is also known that the solar system abounds with sWarms of meteors re- volving ground the sun, and that the earth crosses the paths of number of these occass sionally encountering the Swarms themselves. The vast ajority of these meteors ara very small those that are seen weighing on an average probably only 8 few grains; and since the telescope reveals millions which escape the naked eye, 1t is reasonable to conclude that millions more are too small to be seen even with telescopes-mere meteoric dust. There are historic instances of supposed falls of reteoric dust, the most remarkable, pe<- haps, being that of 1783, when Europe, part of Asia, and part of North America were cov- cred for months with dry fog, or haze. which excited the greatest alarm. Prof. Brooks suggestion that the earth has en- countered cloud of meteoric dust is not, therefore, without foundation in probability. If the recent blazing sunsets have really suited from such cause, they are likely to continue, in modified form, for some time, gradually disappearing as the dust sinks low CT in the atmosphere. But, although so many reasons can be advanced which give probabil- ity to the theory that meteoric dust is con cerned in the production of these strange sunset effects, yet it cannot be considered as proved, and some better explanation may be offered. Whatever the true explanation may turn out to be, however, everybody seems to agree in the opinion that the red glare in tho west during the last three four evenings has been one of the most singular spectacles beheld in the sky for many years.