Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1884-01-26


the eminent scientist and specialist in meteor.
ology, Professor John lie Contc Of the Univcr-
sity Of California
REv. S. L. BrsHop - Dla,. Sir: Your
esteemed letter of the i2th Of December
reached me in due season. Since my previous
letter to you the 4" Upper glow las Miss
Annie Leyappropriately designatesit in Nature)
has made its appearance here first oh.
served It on the evening Of November 24ih,
and It has been manifested more OF less con-
spicuously from that date to the end Ut the
year at present it is nearly gone.
Day after day looked for the corona
around the sun, but have been unable to
detect any color tinted circle OF arc. All the
sky-space within 20 or more of the suns
centre presented UAifiSh ridyY, but no
colured arc. In England and in Europe, the
sun-halo OF corona has been a frequent and CON
spicuous accompaniment. 1t is evident that
the phenomenon has not been as fJoRORRf<3
here as II has been with you OF in England,
and ior th, reason alone the cnlofcd circle
has not been developed around the sun But
The iund skies and the prolongaton OF twilight
have been beautiful.
1t IS an interesting question whether the
coloret circle around the sun is a true fff-
OySiH halo or q dihraction CORONA From the
lact that its radius seems to be about 22' from
the suns centre, It would seem TO he the
Former. But IL 50, how comes the f,e to be
associated with the Htya rijyuf volcanic
dust The following is suggested as a possible
explanation Of this association The eNperi.
mentS Of Mr.. John Aiken, OF Edinburgh
Mature, vol g, PIP. Io5i97, December 90,
1850 show that dnf is the HhclcNS or gejg Of
atmospheric iogs and clouds in fact, in the
absence Of d1H bfJIicleS rs condensinp nuclei.
| 10. r
impalpnble volcanic dust particles in the upper
regions OF the atmosphere furnish proper
.nucei OF condensation but at this aiffltl9f
| everywhere above the zone OF perpetual con.
gealion) the condensed aqueous vapor must
take the form Of iCf-hencc the icecryslal
haloes.
The reason why the upper glow declines
and reappcars with you is, probably, that your
equatorial currents have carried the clouds of
dust several times round the earth now
think that Trinidad is all right.
| You are, before this time, aware that The
phenomenon has been general over a greater
portion of the land surface Of The earth. Its
connection with the Java eruption is demons.
trated. On December -, 1883, a rain storm
| IN Holland brought down dust or sediment.
which the microscope shows TO be Of the same
character as the ava volcanic ashes. There
Is but one serious difficulty in relation to the
Java eruption theory, viz: the apparently al.
most Hmnffanfons appearance of the phcno.
menon throughout the whole of the north.
temperate zone in all parts of the United
States and in all parts OF Europe. This fact
| looks to a coSMftai origin. But, perhaps. the
lateral Sf,tading of the dust clouds from the
tropical zone may have taken place nearly
simultaneously from all parts of the equatorial
| belt
| With regard TO the Alaska eruption, il is now
ascertained that on the 9th or Sth of October
last. there was volcanic eruption at Mt.
Augustin, latitude 50 "a north, and longitude
1853 So west. But the ashes does not seem
to have produced atmospheric effects at greater
distances than 90 OF 100 miles from the vol.
T'ano. Yours, most sincerely,
JOHN LECoNTR.
Berkeley, California January nth.
will venture to add that my own inquiries
have convinced me that the original swift and
immediate transmission of the volcanic haze
IN an equatorial belt around the globe could
not possibly have been due to atmospheric
currents. These were concerned in its sub.
sequent slow distribution to the temperate
zones. | am led to believe that owing to an
enormous height of the eruptive column from
produced sosshea,d thrust in the summit of
the column, and so impaired directive
motion to the light upper vapors, which thus
| shot down the inclined plane of the vast
accumulated cone of heavier vapors, and swept
OIL due west in broad stream around the
equator, not IN the atmosphere, but above and
| upon it. think the facts require MS to assume
westward not an eastward course. 1t ap.
Peared at Cape Coast Castle, September Ist
Trinidad, Venezuela and Panama, September
end, and Honolulu, September slh.
| full statement Of this hypothesis will prob.
ably appear next month in scientific journals.
:. T.. BISHOP.
| 7. s.. Since the above was put in type, |
find in Nature for December goth that Mr. W.
Clement Ley Partially anticipates my hypothe.
SIS, as ioows 'Granting that the distance to
which the vapor and dust were elected from
the bowels OF Krakatoa to have been SO great
that the more rapidly rotating surface OF the
earth brought Panama under this vapor and
dust in the space Of less than week, then we
have gigantic pepper-box capable of con
densng and congealing yapor which had long
remained undisturbed in its serene height.
| We do not need to call in the known currents
TO explain The dispersion Poleward and there
fore eastward of the volcanic matter, eravia.
lion alone accounting for the transmission Of
the PARTICLES down the inclined isobaric
planes"
Mr.. Legs statement falls short in not pro-
viding for the apparently fatal objection that
whatever loss OF rotation is experienced by
the ascending matter is recovered, in its de
scent. make the transient westward thrus,
merely a Mrsehse movement, down greatly
extended "isobaric inclined plane" to the
westward, the descent Of which impar,s the re.
quired velocity to carry the stream Of vapor to
Honolulu in nine days. S. T.. b.