Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-05-22
The Red Sunsets.

The way in which men take tho I'M
expected is an excellent gauge of their
state of mind. Sudden changes in the
face of nature bring the man out of
his burrow and exhibit his hidden mo-
tiyes. Fifty wears ago the meteoric
shower of 1888 showed that the less
cultivated class, even in America, still
looked upon the accidents of the skies
rs signs of heavenly wrath and por-
tents of coming ills. Now even the
least educated no longer ask, What
does this presage? but What is its
cause? Naturalism has advanced fast
ana lar IN the last century.
Inc autumn of 1888 will ALWAYS
have large place in scientific history
on account Of the strange aspect of its
heavens, as well IS on account of the
preceding eruptions of volcanoes in
the Straits of Sunda. which in tbeir
grandeur and effects much exceeded
any disturbance recorded in history.
Although the volcanic outburst
changed the geography of LARGE dis
trlct, destroyed somewhere near one
hundred thousand lives, and sent the
ocean wares and throbs Of the air pro-
duced by the CONFUSION over the whole
circumference of the earth, its nature
was not unusual; it differed from \
thousand similar accidents of this
troubled world only in decree. only
rs the discharge of twenty-inch can
non differs from that of n small field
piece. But the strange heavens of the
later autumn, the fiery glow of sun
rise and sunset, the brownish haze
that girdIcs the sun all dav, are phen-
Omena 50 out of the range of common
experience that ut first all the experts
In meteorology were at sea in their ex-
plantations. AT the outset, many of
these students of the atmosphere
turned naturally to the conjecture that
some of the vagrant matter of space.
such as we see in the comets or dust
like meteors, had been drawn down
upon our atmosphere, and so envel-
Oped the earth with a metcoric mist.
Others looked upon these movements
rs u mere intensification of the after
glow, or second sunset, which is not an
unfamiliar phenomenon in all extra
tropical regions at certain seasons of
the year, particularly in the autumn.
and which is probably due 10 the con-
densation of vapor in the upper reg
ions of the atmosphere. Gradually.
as the facts have been gathered in
from all parts of the world, the ex-
plantations have been overthrow, and
the sunsets have been proven to be in
some way connected with the Javanese
CONFUSION. At several points in Eu-
rope the new-fallen snow contains par
of IL
those that fell upon the decks of ships
near the point of eruption, and which
presumably are the heavier bits that
have descended from dust-cloud in the
upper air.
Still further, it has been shown that
these curious appearances of the sky
occurred more quickly in the district
near the volcano than in regions re-
mote from it. 1t is not easy to deter
mine the precise time when the sunset
and sunrise became SO brilliant for at
first the phenomenon might seem acct
GENITAL IN its nature, and so not become
recorded Yet it is clear that ut Rod
riguez Mauritius, and Seychelles,
points from three thousand to three
thousand five hundred miles west of
hrakatoa, the red sunsets were seen
On the 28th of August, within thirty
six hours after the eruption occurred.
In Brazil, which is over ten thousand
miles away, they appeared on the 3Oth
of September. In Florida, thirteen
thousand miles distant, on September
0th. 1t was noticed in England on the
9th of September, but in Sweden not
until the 30th of November; each of
these countries being about seven
thousand five hundred miles from the
point of eruption, The volcanic mist
spread more rapidly in the tropical
belt between the parallels of latitude
in which Java lies than in the regions
to the north and south of this line.
Sweeping swiftly about the earth in
this tropic J., it seems to have been
carried ia ~ some slower motion
10 higher il. lles.-N S. ShGler IN
Aooa,5V dfTo,,y.,.