The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-09-21
A Light on the Wall.

In a Hartford family which is for
tunate enough to occupy seaside
cottage in the summer is young man
who has been great deal interested
in the phosphorescent light often seen
in the water. His inquiries soon took
him from the phosphorcscence Of the
water to that Of dead logs, and SO he
went on delving into the subject
wherever he found opportunity. He
came home recently with good deal
Of information and habit Of looking
out for new phenomena Of this class.
Not long after his arrival he was in
an upper room Of his fathers house,
and the room being dark, observed
two or three little patches Of faint
light on the wall which were remarka-
bly, like the glow Of decayed log.
Thereupon he did a very sensible
thing, which no one who had not
formed the habit of investigating for
himself would have remembered. He
took pencil and marked the places
on the wall where the light appeared.
Then he waited for daylight and ex-
amined the marked places, secretly
hoping to find some sign of decay in
the wall. Nothing was found to sug-
gest that the wall was undergoing
serious chemical changes. An out
slider hinted at the application Of
phosphorus and that young men are
not always above putting up games on
their parents, however venerable and
honored, but the family repudiated
this suggestion, and the young man
gave his word that he was no way re-
ponsible for the manifestation.
The mystery might have rested
here, but that the head Of the house,
who is something Of an investigator
himself, did not relish the imputation
cast on the condition Of his house,
and set up an inquiry Of his own. He
went up at night, lighted the gas, and
found two spots that had been mark
ed. There was nothing whatever in
the appearance Of these portions Of
the wall to distinguish them from any
other, except the little pencil marks.
Certainly nc phosphorus seemed to
have been applied by the young stu
Dc It or anyone else. Then he put out
| the gas and as soon as his eyes were
accustomed to the darkness he saw
swo faint patches of light on the
spots he had found marked. The
light was white and pale and flicker
ing. 1t seemed to dance on the wall,
coming and going, changing It's form
slightly, but never moving away from
the original position. He thought OF
street lights shining in, but the room
was on the third floor and the lights
in the street would have shown on the
ceiling rather than the wall. Besides
they were not in the right position,
and would produce very different
effect from the pale, Pickering glim-
mer that he and his son had observed.
He went to the window to reassure
himself on this point, and there, by
accident, he hit on the solution Ct the
problem. AS the leaves of a tree at
which he looked moved in the wind he
caught sight of an electric light far
away, which was partly obscured as
the leaves swayed again. Here was
the explanation after all. The light
was found to be in position to make
one of the Illuminated spots he had
seen. The paleness and the wavering
of the light on the wall were account
ed for by the distance Of the light,
its partial observation by leaves and
the motion of the leaves in the breeze.
The other light spot was similarly
accounted for by another street light
at a still greater distance and subject
| coalitions IF interference
by moving leaves. The demonstra-
tion was complete, and it is really
very interesting, because it is due to
persistence in looking for the real
cause of puzzling phenomenon, the
like of which has probably been OBJ
served by many persons who never
took the trouble to clear up the mys-
tery.-Haryord Times.
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