Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser., 1883-12-21
The Strange Red Light.

The peculiar red lights in the heavens each
evening engage The attention of scientific men
as well excite the curiosity OF people gene
rally. As vet nothing definite has bees ascer-
tained about them, and 1t is more than likely
that some months will eispse before any salts
factory explanation will he offered in this con-
nectiou. Prof Chas ). Hastings, OF Johns
Hopkins university, said last night No pru'
dent man of science has al present any notion
OF wha; il is. have never known ANYTHING
of this kind One or two evenings OF such
light would hardly excite comment hut il,
continuance for .eeks - very extraordinary
Your readers must wait snd bs patient. IL is
useless 10 speculate" Prof Hastings explain
ed that Socialists are now as usual collecting
data all over the world. and that the strange
glow in the heavens zach evening sill be noted
All the observations will be compared and
decision reached The observations n III come
from different sections Of the United States
nd from AustraIi-N E-pe of T;s--~4 +t--~ s'sutt4
America Euuope. China The only Wv u 10
collect these ststisiirs carefully arrange them
and discuss the satjr No one i justified 10
forming an opinion until this has L~eu done
thoroughly One of the most important qucs
lions Is as 10 its extent Isii local or all over
tue NOEi1 ~ uuit ibtais u - sffnefic.
and th. question would thea be, Il it due 10
something no, in the atmosphere ordinarily. or
TO something ordinarily there but nov ia
different condition? The solving of these and
other points likely to take some time bu,
few months will bring the data from abroari
md then some Idra. be formed Of the origin
of the ligh, If observers all over the world
observe the light simultaneously its cosmical
origin will be est.blised. Cosmical means re-
lating TO the solar s. stem boIe aud not
TO the earth alone.
If the Cause of the light does not lie on the
surface il will be very difficult TO discover
The way will be 10 establish hrpolhe<is and
subject i; to criticism. Messrs Abte and Up
ton are though, by Prof Hastings the be,,
authorities on III. subject. aud they have given
ne opinion Mr.. Abbe is the scientific bead Of
the United States signal service al Washing
ton. and Mr.. Upton is his assistant
Referring ts the number OF theories dsanced
Prof. Hastings said IL is not zndiac.l light
for that is not red. Dry air? That il color
less so far as known Aqueous rspor7 The
coors of sunset are due 10 vapor and dust, but
vapor is always presen; in the atmosphere and
does not explain this ight. Volcanic gases
These not supposed TO be su fticieutly ahuu-
dant. Comets tail The nesres, comet is
80, 900, 900 of miles from The earth, with its
tail turned from the earth. Meteoric dust
In 1888 and 1867, when there were millions of
meteCrs there were no such sunsets aud this
expsr fence is against such supposiiion The
suns red light? This is no reason for it is al
ways present. The objection to the electrical
theory is that there corresponding e1-
traordinary electrical disturbances recognized
A matter of this kind, if it depended on cleo
trical disturbances, could not exist iris thought
without other electrical phenomena.-BIh