Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1884-02-26
THE RED SUNSETS
Accounted for by a Scientist. Who Say {
They are Due TO the
Passage OF she Suns Rays Through th'
Minute Particles of . Comets Tall.

New York Sun: You may perhaps - -
member that on the 4th OF January, 1882.
you published III article OF mine which
you cr-aracterixed as "a new. and Startling
theory of the mystery OF the weather."
In II advanced the opinion that the re-
Iaarkable weather of the previous season
was probably due to our contact with the
tail of one of the comets that had been
observed. l referred to Dennings comet
as one that had been near the earth. 1t
would answer my purpose better if / were
to repeat the whole of that article, but you
could not afford the space in your valua-
BILE columns.
therefore merely FAY That stated that
If portion of the parts of the comets tail
remote from the nucleus had been alb
sorbed by our atmosphere, heat would
have been produced in it. This would
have happened if the gaseous matter of
the comets tail were heated as some as
tronomers maintain, On the Hther hand,
| If the matter of the tail had been cold, its
! rapid motion through our atmosphere,
caused by the earth's motion as wei as
that of the comet, would by friction have
| generated heat, Just as meteors are rem
dered luminous by their passage through
| the atmosphere.
| The upper portion of our atmosphere
being thus heated, no clouds world. have
been formed or could .havn ekt5ted, and
hence we might expect such remarkable
| hot and dry weather as had been expe-
fienced over the Mississippi Valley and
other regions, while the unequal density
and weight OF the hot and cold currents
would produce sgch disturbances in the
motions of the atmosphere az to eanse it-
regular and stormy weather in some re-
gions.
1 then stated that as 4 considerable
period might elapse before these hot and
cold currents were thoroughly mixed, we
l might look for irregular weather for some
time to come.
This suggestion has been to a remark.
able extent verified in the two years that
| have succeeded. While storms and cy-
clones have been unusually FREQUENT, the
upper Mississippi Valley regions, where
the dropth prevailed, has been especially
| visited by these disturbances
Again the world has been surprised with
| the number OF red sunsets exhibited dur.
1 ing the lest six months. But is not this
exhibition precisely what we should have
anticipated if my theory should be taken
as true? If our atmosphere had in its
higher parts been filed with heated and
rarited gases and minute PARTICLES OF :
comets tail, as these gases were cooled
/ hhCy bcSOitlc OtHoS, diiNl therefore
| less transparent, and in time only the
heavier rays OF the sun would be able tc
pass through them. Thus when we see
the sun through a dense fog it appears
blood red, and as the log is dissipated the
sun becomes yellow, and finally white
| This is, as we know, due to the fact that
the red, orange and yellow rays, having
most penetratiye power, reach us, while
the blue, green, indigo and violet rays are
not able to get through the fog, as birdshot
will not penetrate plank that bullet
goes through.
If, therefore, the upper regions of oul
atmosphere are in some portions occupied
with dense cometary gases, when the sur
has descended somewhat so that its rays
pass for a considerable space through the
gases, We should see in the first instance
yellowish and orange colors, and finally
when the sun has descended still lower
the fiery red colors frequently exhibited
of late.
1t thus appears that my theory has three
distinct classes of facts to sustain it.
We had just such dry weather in 1881 a:
such condition must have caused. 2
We have experienced such cyclones anC
stormy and irregular weather as atmos
pheric currents of unequal Temperature
and density must be expected to produce
3. The remarkable red sunsets would b,
caused by such condition of the upper al
as have supposed.
need not add that these three classes
OF facts go far TO establish the origina
theory. | have, however, said enough
perhaps, to call the attention OF men O
science to the consideration of this view O
the case. Respectfully yours, etc.
| IT l.. CIINGMAN