Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-05-18
THE MIRAGE.
Conditions That Make Possible Th's
Beautiful illusion.

bU6 WuUuN06s
Conditions That Make Possible This
Beautiful Illusion.
About that natural phenomenon. the
mirage, much mystery chung In days
of old. but science explains it as read
lily as the rainbow.
The fata inorganic of the strait OF
Messina and the specter Of the Brock
en- were nothing more in sober reality
than mere mirage.
A mirage may occur at any place
where the denser stratum of air Is
placed above the lighter stratum, thus
refracting the rays Of light, the com
mon surface Of the two stratums act
ing as a mirror.
In looming mirages distant objects
show an extravagant increase in YER
teal height without alteration in
breadth. Distant hummocks Of ice are
thus magnif1ed into immense towers
and pinnacles. and ship is sometimes
abnormally drawn out until it appears
twelve or thirteen times as high as it
is long. Rocks are seen drawn up to
ten or twelve times their proper
height. Houses as we'll as human be-
ings and animals appear in like exag-
gerated shape.
Another form Of mirage Is when
ship or some other object near the
water seems greatly elongated and a
second inverted image meets it from
above.
Sometimes the proper image Of the
object is elevated far above the sea.
while the second image strangely op
pears inverted beneath it. the whole
surrounded by sheet Of sky which Is
mirrored and repeated within it.
In 1882 in the arctic region Captain
Scoresby recognized by its inverted
image In the air his fathers ship, the
Fame. which afterward proved to be
seventeen miles beyond the visible no.
rizon Of bis observation.
One August evening in 1906 DR..
Vince saw from Ramsgate, at which
place only the tops Of Dover castle
towers are usually visible. the Whole
of the castle. 1t appeared as though
lifted up and bodily placed on the near
side Of the intervening hill. So per-
feet was this illusion that the hill It.
self actually could not be seen through
the figure.
Some forms Of mirage are lateral AZ
we'll as vertical, arising from unequal
density of two contiguous vertical bod
les of air. Thus on Lake Geneva
boat has been seen double. the TWO
images some distance apart.
Persons have been duplicated in the
same way. Any one on a hot day by
placing his eye near to heated wall
may see lateral mirages Of objects at
q distance and nearly ON a line with
the wall.
Mirages are very frequent on des-
erts or the large sandy plains which
abound in the southwestern states and
territories. Many q painting wagon
train has pushed on In joyous haste
ut the sight Of a green grove or limpdd
lake, only to be cruelty disappointed at
the fading away Of the vision. Is 1t
any wonder that the natives and In
dams regard the phenomenon as the
work Of evil and tantalizing spirits7
Lake Ontario Is famous for beauti-
full and wonderful mirages, during
which the opposite shore Of the lake
IL plainly visible from either side
Pearson's.
Modest Modern Man. -.
Whatever may be said Of the modern
man, he cannot be said to be lacking In
nodesty. While the ancients did their
utmost to prove that they issued from
the gods, we do our best to demon.
strate that we have descended from
Journal
Proof.
II guess their honeymoon is about
over"
"What makes you think SOP
"He's quit coming home for his noon
Free Press.