The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-10-30
HE BROKEN sPEcIER.
An Explanation Anent the Phenomenon OF
the Hartz Mountains.

Science
This phenomenon has been associated
with the Broken, one of the Hartz noun
tains in Germany, 300 feet in hight, be-
cause more often observed from there. 1t
has given rise to a large number of remark
able theories in explanation, many of
which originated with those who had never
seen it. An exhaustive article, giving a
resume of records regarding it, will be
found in the Quarterly Journal Of The ROYAL
Meteorological Society for 1887, at page 245.
The explanation having the widest accept
ance was published in the above article,
and later in the american Meteorological
Journal, August, 1889, and is as follows:
The eye is deceived by the apparitiOn, and
thinks it much farther away than it really
is. The only way in which the eve could
be deceived would be in case the shadow
were formed a long way off; but, if il were
really formed near the eve, it would APP
pear in its natural size When one looks
into a concave mirror the eve is at first de-
ceived, thinking the mirror plane; but in
this case the deception is very plainly due
to the action of the mirror
The very singular explanation is given
in Johnson's cyclop@dia that 'the vapOrs
OF the atmosphere act as a vast concave
mirror" Singular as it may seem, how
ever, it is probable that this is, undesign-
edly, more than half correct. A short
stay on the summit of Mt. Washington
has shown this specter in all its phases.
The best time to see it is either early in
the morning or Just before sunset. and
when the fog is not too dense to hide the
sun. If the observer turns his back to the
sun he will see on a bank of fogs, if it does
not envelop him, a slightly diminished
shadow of himself The eve is not de-
ceived in any case as long as the fog forms
a nearly vertical wall at fifty or more feet
distance. If, now, the fog envelops the
person, the shadow appears to start di-
rectlv from him and often seems very
large. There is no deception of the eve at
all, if one is accustomed to careful observa-
tons.
The following is advanced as probable
explanation: The shadow of the person
Is cast upon the fog in solid form; that is,
the object shuts off the light of the sun,
and one sees only the surface of his own
solid shadow looking into its axis. The
arms and legs also cast solid shadows, and
the person sees the movement of these
outside OF the shadow of his body. 1t
may be better understood TO call to mind
the shadow one sees on the ground as the
sun is setting. This gradually grows
longer and longer, and at last disappears
in the distance. The fog forms a sort of
ground" and the shadow is cast upon it.
1t is possible to form the same shadow
with a lantern which concentrates its rays
by reflector. There is no difficulty, in a
fog, in seeing the shadow enormously en-
larged. Scores have seen it on Mt. Wash
ington. 1t might be thought that the
nearness of the light was the cause of the
enlargement; but this was not the case,
for the shadow began exactly at the per-
son, where it could have been only the
natural size.
The familiar appearance of "sun draw
ing water" viii help to explain this phe-
nOmenon. In this case the air is full of
haze or fog, and small cloud casts a solid
shadow thousands OF times as long as it.
self. The surface OF this is what we see.
If an eye were placed in the edge of the
cloud casting the shadow, the latter would
appear on all sides. In the case OF the
specter, this same solid shadow could be
seen by a second person standing and
looking across it, provided the light of the
sun were not dimmed by the fog 1t is to
be hoped that we may have more observa-
tons of this interesting phenomenon.