Omaha daily bee., 1884-01-07
THE RED SKY.
The Recent Shows as Aids in Explain.
ing The Phenomenon,
Infusoriai Cosmi Dust?-Some OF
the Remarkable Biood.Rcd
and Shows of
History.

New York Herald.
The most vivid of the recent briIlian
red sunsets was that of last night. 1t will
be remembered when this strange evenin,
sight was first noticed that the fire sngin,
companies Of Peekskill, Poughkeepsi,
and Trenton, n. j., were called out Il
quench it, and in truth the first appear
ance was so remarkable-whether OF
account of its novelty or its brilliancy il
immaterial-as to deceive all who saw it,
Bright as was the first appearance con,
trasted with the ordinary glories of sun.
set, the contrast was not as remarkable az
that of last night compared with previous
similar manifestations. The whole west
ern sky was one glorious blush of cardinal
red.
For two hours the startling sight, for
which there was something grand in the
vividness of the red glow, attracted the
attention of the people hereabout. AZ
six o'clock the most peculiar phase of the
phenomenon was witnessed when in the
starlit sky the peculiar rudy glow came
and went.
At half. past six the sky in the west re.
sumed its wonted evening aspect, and the
cosmic dust from interstellar space, or
Javanese volcanic dust, or what not else
that may have caused the magnificent
atmospheric effect was Intellectual to dim
the lustre of the stars, which shone
out in electric distinctness the evening
through.
PUZZLED sAvANTS.
Savants in all parts OF the civilized
world are endeavoring to explain the cause
of these recent magnificent sunsets and
sunrises. These gorgeous morning and
evening phenomena have been the sub
ject of much conjecture and discussion
among scientific men for a month past,
and opinion is divided as to the cause of
them. On one hand it has been main
tanned that to the recent volcanic activity
in the earth's crust, in the vicinity of the
Island of Java, these strange sights are
ascribable, and the means by which this
belief is arrived at are simple and valid
80 far as they GO. 1t is contended that
during the volcanic activity vast quaint
ties of pumice dust and incinerated rock
were were carried as pollen might be, in
the vast volumes of gas that escaped from
the volcanoes crater and borne into the
upperstratum of our atmospheric envelope,
into which the light gases naturally found
their way. That these clouds of fine and
almost impalpable dust have since re-
NAMED in the upper air is the claim of the
first set of gentlemen who seek to account
for the strange appearance of the sky at
night and in the morning. There is
nothing i~nsupportable or untenable in
this theory, as will be shown; but there
is a broader and more satisfactory expla-
nation, and one which, in the face of the
fact that the observation of peculiar sun
rise and sunset effects is almost universal,
seems to be better founded.
CosMIC DUST.
1t is that the earth in its travels
through space has encountered a zone of
meteoric dust. and that to the presence
of this dust in our envelope are due the
strange effects alluded to. So far as this
particular locality is concerned, the re-
snow storing are important factors in de-
termining the moot as the cause of the
brilliant red skies, for the snow, taken at
a distance from the possible influences of
city contamination, has been found to
contain meteoric particles in large guam
titles. The Investigations are as yet
quite incomplete, but the microscope has
revealed the presence of certain peculiar
shaped atoms known to be of cosmic orr.
gin At several ~observatories in the United
States, since the the strange effects were
noticed, efforts have been made to catch
whatever substance might be in the all
by means of gelatine. coated plates adjus
ted in an apparatus invented by DIR. Mi.
quel and known as the horoscope. These
| plates are adjusted at the small end of a
funneil-shaped continuance which, by
means of a weather vane, always presents
its mouth, so to speak, to the wind. The
plate being very sensitive, everything of 6
foreign nature in the atmosphere is
caught on the adhesive surface and there
retained. Attached to the machine is an
thermometer by which the amount of all
passing through the funnel is ascertained.
Already some remarkable finds of inor.
ganic matter have been made by means
of this continuance at great elevations ;but
as most of the high stations are now cut
off from communication, it will not be
possible, until next summer, to ascertain
and collate the data gathered, and hence
the recent snow storm, which carried
down with it all the foreign substances
intervening between the elevation 81
its conversion into snow and the earth, il
of great scientific value, since the snow,
when submitted on prepared pans to higl
temperature, is converted into water, tt
the bottom of which all the contained
dust precipitates itself.
DUST IN THE ARCTIC.
The writer has seen in the extreme
north, under the eightieth parallel, OF
| Spitzbergen, where no dust conld pre-
vail, since there, for geologic ages, the
surface of the earth has been covered
| with snow and ice, great patches of vel
low and black dust, presumably OF mete
ORIG origin. Investigation of the sub
stance, however, failed to illuminate the
conjecture. The yellow dust which wal
at first supposed to be diatomaceous ooze
was found to be formed of cartonat,
of lime. The black dust, how
ever, contained metallic iron and was un
doubleday of meteoric origin. On tn,
face of a grand glacier in Green Bay
Spitzbergen, from which had recent,
broken away a huge iceberg, could b
seen plainly defined the SHOWS and accu
mutations Of hundreds of years, and her
and there in well-deflned streaks, depos
its of black dust, presumably of meteor
origin. One streak Of black was NOR
extensive and of greater depth than an
of the others, but it was supposed tina
this was the dust which descended o
Spitzbergen, Norway, the Farce island
N some parts of the north of ScofIan