New-York tribune., 1884-01-02
The Rev. Mr. Wood, of the House of Prayer was
with him for some time.
A VAST DUST ENVELOPE.
THE CAUSE OF THE BRILLIANT SUNSETS


THE CAUSE OF THE BRILLIANT SUNSETS
pROrFSsOK 5. p. LANGLEY's THEORf-HlS oD9H"-
vATIoNs on MI. ETNA AND MT wHlINEf'
Scientific men have evinced extraordinary IN
tcrcst i'm the wonderfully brilliant sunsets that NV
or some limo pas been observed in different parts
of The world Various theories nave beeh auNau'cu,
but all are agreed that the real cause Is not 5e'
definitely determined. At the breyoOrt liouse yes
terday a TRIBUNE reporter spent couple oil homrs hs
with Professor s. T. langley astronomer at Alle-
gheny Observatory. Allegheny, Penn: Hls TTeMs
upOn the topic of the transIniSsloilHy u Hs"V
through our atmosphere are stated peloN -,
At first ! supposed the sunset matter a ioc.ll
nbcnomcnon hut when the reports showed IL 10
have heen visible ali over the world 1t was obvious
that we must look for some equaliy gehcdI oduS,' %
we know but two likely ones ana these nave oecn zen
already brought forward. One Is the adNShI ol an
nnnSual amount of meteOTc dust While some
thing over ten millions OF meteoilteS aIc hhVNn hhN ~ ~
enter our atmosphere daily which are disslpalcu III
dust and vapOr in the upper atmosphere the i3'df
mass of these is small as compared with the bniK Oh
the atmosphere itself, although absOluteiE IaiEc.
1t is difficult to state with plecISoh Mll9, I ~ . 80
amount is. But several lines OF evidence e'u u o0 M
think il Is approximately not greatly less IMAM loo
tons per diem greatly more thah l'ooV ioiiS & p
diem Taking the largest estimate as sun . pcl"m
the truth. must suppose an enormously slca'.d O.
accession than this to supply quantity SuulcIch! "
produce the phenomenon III question: .ahu iI @ ls
hardly possible to imagine such a Ineteoric lhoW l
nnaccompanied with visual phenomena in the torn
of shooting stars which would make us ADVENT
visible to all. Admitting the, the posSiollIty Oh
mcteOrlc influence, we lntlSt Cohoiu'A ~ w ~
theeSs extremely improbable, ,..1 10,
There is another cause which understand mas
been suggested by Mr. bockyer-thongh nave hot
seen his article--whion seems 10 DE more aCC.P!-
able that of volcanic dust; and IN relation 10 lLS
presence of dust i'll the entire atmosphere ol & tlo
planet can offer some little personai P %
I'm 1875 | was OH the upper slopes OF mount 1lIld,
i'm the volcanic wastes, three or four hours Journey
above the zone of fertile ground pasacd q p%oI- POT
tion of the wiHteT at that elevation ehgageu III
studying the transparency of the eaTthS atlnOs-
phere was much impressed by the iact tht I ncIc,
on site where the air IS supposed 10 og dts az
anywhere in the world, At TINS cOhsiueIdnl' diI-
fnSe and where we were surrounded by snow-hclds
and deserts of black lava the telescope sh0Wed indt
the air was filed with minute dHst particles, Tnon %
evidently had no relation TO the local surroundings
but apparently formed a portion OF an chNciI"Po
common to the whole earth. was conhlnled I'm III
This opinion by my recollection that Professor
Piazzi smith on the Peak of Tcncrifc IN mld-occan,
saw these strata of dust rising to the height OF over
a mile reaching out to the horizon III every L uitLE
ton and so dense that they frequently ma llIIgn-
boring island mountain, whose peak rose aDnN9
Them rs though out of an upper sea- IN ioSl
was on Mount Whitney IN southern O39lllorlIa,
the highest peak in the United States, unless some
of the Alaskan mountains can rival II. had gone
there with an expedition from the Allegheny 0bscr-
vatorv undcr the official direction OF General iaIc
of the Signal Service and had campcd at an altLGue
of II, 900 feet, with a special object OF studying
analogous phenomena On ascchuIg We oPo P('f COZ ."
Whitney from altitude OF nearly lo.oVo leet
the eve looks to the east over one oi the most
barren regions in the world. Immediately at me
foot of the mountain the lnyO Desert ana on IN
east a range of mountains parallel to the Sierra
TnNodos S,,E Int only abont 10000 feet in height
From the valley the atmosphere had appeared
beautifully clear But from this aerial helght we
looked down on what seemed a kind OF level dust
ocean invisible from below, but whose depth was
six or seven thousand feet rs the upper portion
only of the opposite mountain range rose clc5rN
ont of IT, Tie color of the light rejected 10 MS rom
this dust-Ocean clearly red and II Stretcht! as
far as the eye could reach IN every, dlIectloh,
oItbouph there was no special wind or local cause
for if If was evidently like the dust seen IN md
ocean from the Peak of Notwithstanding pres
ent all the time and permanent lhsrediehI III thc
"At onr own great elevation the sky was of q re-
markaby deep violet, and II seemed at llst as no
dust was present in this upper ar mt VI gettIlg'
inst at noon in the edge of the shadow OF range
of cliffs which rose 1,20O feet above us, the SKY
Immediately about the sun took on "hljlNn nue.
On scrutinizng this through the telescope IL was
fouud TO be due to myTiadS of the mlnutcSt aust
particles | was here at a far greater hclght thal
the summit of Etna. with tllhg aIounu ne 'AtPt P
granite and snOw-hcldS, and the presence OF thIS
dust in q comparatively calm ar ulUch lmPres1el
me. mentioned it to MI Clarence klnF' ial lnri ~
rector of the United States GGo,9slcal ,IHHENtys'
who. was one of the first to ascend Mount hlthc{'
and he Informed me that this upper dust was prob
ably due to the OeSs OF Chlnd laElg beeh DoIIlG
across the Pacific and quarter of the way around
the world. We were at the summit o1 lho co1tI-
ncnt and the air which swept by us was GhmlhgltH
with that of the lower regions of the earts surface
Even at this great altitude the dust was pcrpctu-
ally present in the ar, and became conlrmrd IN
the opinion that there is permanent duSI sHeIl nl
closing the whole planet to Il height certainly OF
about three miles (wherc direct observation mas
followed it, and not improhahly to height even
rrcltnr: for have no reason TO suppose IIdt lle
dut carried ND from the carhS surface stops at the
height to which we have assembled The mcteoIlt'S'
which are consumed at an aNerage hcight @l twenty
to forty miles, must add somewhat 10 lm'S Uut Uut
observations with special apparatus on mount
Whitney went to show that the red rays are trans
mittcd with greatest facility through our ar ana
rendered il extremely probable that tins has Il very
large share in the cOors of cloudlcss sky at sunset
and sunrise, these cOlOrs depending largely upon
tLc average size of the dust particles.
* eSDpClIlIV
observations CO. we have no reason to douhi At
the finer dust from the carthS surface is CARR up
to a surprising altitude. ] speak here not Il ihe
Crosscr dust particles, but of those which are 50 he
gs to he individually invisible. except under favor
ing circumstances, and which are so minute tlaI
thcy might be an almost unlimited time III scttlins
to The ground, oven if the atmosphere were TO be-
come perfectly quiet. ] have not at hand any data
for estimating the amount OF dust thrown INTO lHc
alr by such cuptiOns as those which recently oc-
currcd i'm Java and Alaska But II Is quite certain,
if thc accounts we have are not exaggerated, that
the former alone must have been counted by mill
ions of tons and must IN all probability nave eN-
ccedcd in amount thaL contributeu ny HrlcoIltII
during an entire year. Neither must II be supposed
that this will at once SINK To the surface again.
Even the smoke of cOnnagTatlon 50 utterly lnNlS-
nitcant. compared with nature scale, rs the buIh-
inc of Chicago was according To MT. Clarence
King, perceived on the PaClhc Coast; nor Is tleIc
any improbability that can see in suppo-inE that
tie eruption at KTakatOa may have charged the at
mosphcrc of the whole planet lor a. least 0l belt
cncircling nj for months with PARTICLES SuihclcntE
large to scatter the rays of red light and partially
absorb the others, and to produce me pHrh"he-
non that is now exciting 50 much pubic interest.
We must not conclude that the cause of the pho
uomenOn is certainly known. II is not. But am
inclined TO think that there ls.no only no ante
ccdcnt impTOhability that these volcanic cruptOns
ON such an unprecedented scale are the cause, hut
that they are the most likely cause which we can
assign
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