The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1909-07-23
THE MIRAGE.
Conditions That Make Possible This
Beautiful Illusion.

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
fly as the rainbow.
The fata morgana 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 hummoc.Ss OF Ice are
thus magnified into immense towers
and pinnacles, and a ship is sometimes
abnormally drawn out until 1t 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 well as human be-
ings and animals appear in like exag-
gerated shape.
Another form Of mirage is when a
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 APP
pears inverted beneath II, the whole
surrounded by a sheet Of sky which is
mirrored and repeated within 1t.
In 1882 I'm 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 ho-
rizon OF his observation.
One August evening In 1905 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 as
well as vertical. arising from unequal
density of two contiguous vertical bod
les of air. Thus on Lake Geneva a
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 a heated wall
may see lateral mirages Of objects at
a 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 a painting wagon
train has pushed on in joyous haste
at the sight Of a green grove or limpid
lake, only to be cruelty disappointed at
the fading away of the vision. Is ii
any wonder that the natives and In
dams regard the phenomenon as the
work of evil and tantalizing spirits?
Lake Ontario is famous for beauti-
full and wonderful mirages. during
which the opposite shore Of the lake
is plainly visible from either side
Parsons.
A Financial Parable.
Just before the collection was taken
up one Sunday morning a negro clergy
man announced that a certain brother
had forgotten to lock the door Of his
chicken house the night before. and, as
a result, In the morning he found that
most of the fowls had disappeared. II
doan' want TO be pussonal. bredr'n."
he added. but | hab my s'picions as
to who stole dem chickens. l also hab
reason TO b'lievin' dat II am right in
dose s'picions dat pusson won't put
any money in de plate which will now
be passed around"
The result was fine collection. Not
single member Of the congregation
felgned sleep. After it was counted
the old parson came forward.
"Now, bredr'n." he said, 81 doan'
want your dinners to be spoilt by won.
derin' where dat brudder lives who
doan' lock his chickens up at night.
Dat brudder doan' exist, nah friends.
He was parable gotten up TO pur-
pose Of finances"