Morning journal and courier., 1884-01-04
THE RED SKIES.


 The red skies after sunset which have at- for over four months. At present there is no sign that these displays are likely to cease very soon. Indeed, Prof. Swift, of Roches- tsr, says that. whatever may be their cause, they have apparently come to stay. They are certainly very remarkable phenomena, perhaps the most remarkable meteorological phenomena that have appeared in this cen- tury. These singular sky glows, it is said, are witnessed after sundown all over the world. Everywhere their peculiar red is easily distinguishable from the ordinary rad of the sunset The meteorological record, SC far as it extends, presents no instance of the occurrence of this phenomenon in the past. Naturally it has given rise to g good deal of speculation ss to it's cause. The most common explanation is that it is caused by meteoric dust. It is suggested that the earth has been passing through a cloud of these minute meteors, that they are drawn by the force of attraction in vast numbers into it's atmosphere, that the sun continues to shine upon them in the upper strata of the air after it has set to that portion of the earth's surface which lies beneath, and that the red glow is the reflection of the sunlight from the dust to us.
 Professor Langley of Alleghany university, as reported in Wednesdays Tribune, thinks that the presence of so vast a quantity of meteorites as would be required to produce the observed effect is highly improbable, es- pscially as it is unaccompanisd by any un- usual display of shooting stars. It certainly does appear somewhat remarkable that the earth, for the first time in it's history as 8 planet 50 far as science records, should have entered cloud of star-dust sufficiently dense to visibly affect the atmosphere. It must be borne in mind that since the advent of the red skies the earth has journeyed through one-third of its entire orbit. So that the thickness of the cloud cannot be far from sixty millions of miles, SO far ss the space already traversed is concerned. Meteoric dust is constantly falling upon the earth, but so sudden and so enormous an accession of it through so vast space does seem hardly supposabIe. But Professor Langley gives his support to theory that seems still less satisfactory, namely, that these appearances are due to volcanic dust. If volcanic dust could Geac6 8 BuIuC1SHE Ai6ltuQ0 10 pL0Quc6 them it could scarcely be so equally distrib- uted as to produce snbstantia fly the same effect all over the world. The New York Herald says that the refiecting matter which causes these displays must be largely made up of aqueous vapor congealed. But just how such general distribution of vapor in upper strata of the atmosphere has never happened before, or if it has why it has never until now produced the present effect, the Herald offers no explanation. It comedies, however that such diffusion of vapor in these re- gions would necessarily occasion extensive and protraeted anomalies in the seasons of 1884. But why not in the four months of | 1883 during which the sky glows have con- | tinued?
 The red skies still continue an unsolyed and very interesting mystery, and afford a ! striking illustration of how narrow the range of science still is, notwithstanding the great progress it has made.