Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-12-27
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correspondent Of the London Tele.
graph, writing on the subject of the extra
ordinary atmospheric phenomena con-
neoted with recent sunsets, points out that
their simultaneous appearance in distant
regions of the globe proves that they can-
not be accounted for by merely local con-
dltions OF the atmosphere. Although IN
usual these phenomena are not unprece-
centco, as g few brief references to previ-
| GUS records will show. These comparisons
will also demonstrate the connection OF the
atmospheric ELECTS with terrestial disturb
anoe. Already among popular guesses
| the Java earthquake has been associated
| with the porteuts, although the prevalent
opinion still regards them msrely as
| emens OF severe winter.
! Those Tso are familiar with the letters
snd tbs poems Of Copper will remember
| MS frequent aiiasions to tho strange "signs
| IN the @axth" and ''eigns in the skies'' in
| the year 1888. Thus ne wrote in the .sTask''
| Book H.:
! Nf1res frem beneath. and meteers from above,
Portentous, une1ampled, unexplained,
have klndled beacons in the skies; and the old
And crazy earth has had her shaking fits
More frequent, and forgone her usual rest ~
| lie describes also the strange fog which
overspresd Earoye and Asie throughout
ssmner OF that year, and flied the
| reaon With gloomy foTebodincs. a more
| calm observer of nature, Gilbert White,
| OF Sslserne, thus wrote to his
| frissd Dsisss Darlington: 'The Summer of
1888 was an amazing and portentous one,
| and fall OF strange phenemsna;" among
| whieh it is noted that the sun at noon
| locked as black as the cieuSed moon, and
shed russ-colored ferrugiHous light or
the ground, but was particularly lurid and
| blood cclored at rising and setting. Aad
| again: "The country psople began to look
with superseisioua ava Mt the red lover
| ing aspect of the sun, and, indeed. there
was reason for the most enlightened perso n
TO be apprsksnsive. for all the while
Calabria ard part Of Sicily wers ssorn and
| coevulsed with eartho uake, and aoout this
Junoturs volcano sprapg cut of the sea
on the coaas of Norway
It was Mrs. Somarville who. in her
physical Geography first showed that
the fog and lurid lights of 1888 we're due
to the great eruption of Skaptar, in Ice
land. For months after The outbreak the
island was obscured By the enormous
quantity of fine dust borne aloft in
clouds of vapor. This volcanic dust was
carried by winds over England and north
srn Europe, and caused the atmospheric
! sffect adescribed by Cowper and by Gilbert
White.
instances are on record where the decks
OF ships have been coversd with dust
abaye thousand miles from submarine
eruption. Bat these were comparatively
heavy particles OF dust, the fnsr portion
being raised thousands of feet above ths
surface OF the earth, and diffussd by at
mosphcric currents. Indeed, it matters
little at what point the volcanic eruption
is going on If the amount of this dust is so
great as to form distinct stratun in The
atmosphere at high elevation. There i.
a constant flow of cold air from ahe poles
toward the equator, becoming in certain
latitudes the regular trade winds; while
the ascending hot air of the tropic spreaGs
itself, and is borne by winds and the
earth's rotation, to the skies Of temperate
climstes. Thus the dust of the great Jeva
disturbance, AID Of other remote volcanic
energy, may have affected our English
sunlight.
In the records of English meieorolo-
glsts, as in Luke Towards Climate OF
London" We find similar remarkable eff
fects noted; and it would be interesting to
| inquiries whether these were synohronoue
| with periods OF intense vo!eaui
action in other countries. But in posi-.
lions nearer to active volcanoes these at
mospherio phenomena are far from IN
usual. Bishop Heber, in the narrative OF
his voyage in the Indian seas, gives q
glowing account of gorgeous colors al
suaset-"colors such as I had never seer
before, except in a prism, and surpassina
every effect of paint or glass or gen.
Ellis, in his "Voyage to the Sandwich
Isles" describes similar scenes as frequent
on the coast of Peru: Toward evening
and in early morning, have seen clouds
of every color, and ones never beheld be-
fore, while the hemisphere round the ris-
ing OF setting san has bson one blaze of
glory" The effects were different from any
ordinary sunlight effects, and we're due to
other elements than the ordinary constita-
snts of the atmosphere, marvellous though
the effects of light On these may be. The
| observations Of Humboldt and of Charles
Darwin on volcanoes may help US to &C
count for the abnormal atmosphere of
these South American skies. They tell us
that earthquakes and volcanoes are parts
of tho same sffort to relieve the pressure
OF the esrth's solid crust upon the molssn
rock beneath, and that they are often con-
nected with peculiar meteorological condi-
items. The clouds of finely divided i'm
pa!pab,e dust are raised and carried about
BY the air currents, and beyond all doubt
it is such clouds under the rays of the set
ting sun which give forth the marvellous
! displays of color We haye lately seen.