The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1885-08-29

| spectral appearance, while some OBJ
servers stated that everything had a
| yellow tint, and claimed that there
was an odor of sulphur This same
hue was noticed by the writer some
years since on the Maine coast, and
was supposed to be due to forest fires,
that filled the air with smoke. The
wonderful dark fog that fell like pail
over England and other parts OF
Europe in 1888 is described as having
a decided blue tint. On other occa-
sions the tint has been red, gray or
purple. One of the most remarkable
"blue days" on record was noticed a
few years ago in South America, and
in some towns, where the houses were
pure white, they gave an extremely
rich blue reflection of many different
shades. The great extent of these
periods of darkness is difficult to ex-
plain. Thus the one of 1888 not only
spread over Europe, but the greater
part of Northern Africa. According
Lamanon, it spread over the country
with considerable rapidity. 1t was
noticed first at Copenhagen on May
oath; at La Rochelle June 9th, going
rapidly south, reaching Rome ten days
later, and causing a reign of terror
among the ignorant poor. 1t reached
Geneva on the 18th, Paris the follow
ing day, and by the last of the month
had been noticed at Moscow, Syria
and even in America. That it was
not low-lying fog was evident
from the fact that travellers
on the highest mountains, where
the phenomenon was noticed, could
not see above it. Curiously enough,
wind or ra n did not seem to affect it, for
during its existence there were twenty
three days of heavy rain, besides violent
wind-storms that had, however, no
effect upon it, This dry mist as it was
called for want of better name, was
of a bright red hue, and in many local
tiles signified in the minds of the people
coming war. A very similar phe-
nomenon has been observed in later
times. Thus, in 1881, Africa, Europe
and parts of America were visited by a
mist that gave to all objects an emerald
hue, or again an azure blue. A re-
markable feature of this was that the
fog, if it could be called by that name.
became luminous at times, so that in
many localities, although lights had to
be used during the day time, at night
the mist gave out light quite sufficient
to read by, and so bright was the light
that fine print was read with ease at
midnight
The cause of these mists is still
mystery. The scientist Cate consid-
cred that they were due to metal en-
anations united with electricity, and to
the indirect result of earthquakes.
Valtman, German writer, considered
the enormous peat fires of Westphalia
as the prime cause of the mist in that
part of Europe, and the dark days of
Europe have often been laid to prairie
and forest fires. Benjamin Franklin
proposed a novel theory that had many
adherents. 1t was that an enormous
! meteoric globe had struck the atmos-
phere of the earth and exploded, the
smoke and small atoms gradually set
thing down and so obscuring the sun
[ and moon. 1t has been found that vast
amounts of organic and inorganic
matter are always floating about in
space, and it has been assumed that
at times great bodies of dust are swept
into the air-quite enough, in fact,
to occasion series of dark
days under the locality where the
, dust was held suspended in the
air. What are known as ''red snow, !"
''blood rains" and other phenomena in
Europe are merely the result of the
precipitation of this matter to the
ground. They were even more dread
,, ed in early times than the dark days,
and the people of the time fully be-
lieved that blood had fallen from the
, sky. A blood rain, according to Pliny,
, fell in Constantinople in the year $50.
| At Brixan there was a similar fall in
J 500, at Bagdad in 929, at Viterbo in
, 1919, in Bohemia in 1419, in West
phalia in 1913, at Emden in 1866 at
Strasburg in 1923, at Brussels in 1910,
t and at Venice in 1857. Other famous
, blood rains occurred at Genoa in 1744;
7 at Cloves, 1868; Picardy, 1865; Italy,
1903, and at Glessen in 1921. In the
: records of all these rains there are ac-
counts of the terror of the people, who
l firmly believed that some terrible visi-
tation was about to occur, and, indeed,
: they were not agreeable to the eye.
7 The snow that was pure white in the
3 evening would, in the following morn
r ing, have changed to a'rich blood-red,
t so that the entire country looked as
s though it had coating of blood. In
OAlO VI EO-Ooy bhO wac
g ''painted. red" The cause of the pc.
e culiar color was explained by the fact
: that tons of dust had fallen, and the
e red hue was the natural tint of perox.
b ide of iron. Nor was the color Of
e these rains confined to red. In 1876 g
!, yellow rain fell in France, and sc
l. alarmed all the inhabitants that it is
# said that wild animals took to the
e towns, aud utterly lost their fear O
a man. This rain is said to have origin
Y ated in South America, and Ehrenbere
S estimated that hundreds of tons of or
r ganic matter was deposited about tht
!, surrounding country. This must have
crossed the Atlantic in some extremely
g high current. The yellow pollen o
d plants at times causes what is known
n as yellow fog, and that this colorins
Q agent is carried along through the ali
it great distances the writer can testify
It as in 1888 the rocks on certain parts o
d the Maine coast appeared covered ont
e morning with a yellow powder that re
If sembled sulphur, and not few of tn
e fishermen thought it was, but the mi
,r croscope showed il to be pollen. am