The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1922-01-07
Dust Cause of
Ages of Cold

through a region Of space almost en-
tirely free from such material, so that
the suns rays beat with full force on
the earth, probably making the polar
regions pleasant and the rest or the
earth unlivably hot. At present the
sun is apparently moving through
part of space thinly scattered with In
terplanetary materials.
An Age Of Murk.
A few million years ago. ACCORDING
to Doctor Shapley. the earth, the sun
and the other planets were moving
through a murk which is observed by
astronomers In the constellation OF
Orion. This is one Of many vast black
pockets, or "coal Sacks" in the sky,
some of which may be detected by the
naked eye Behind this veil In Orion
are 20 faint stars which vary in In
tensity. They average about 800 light
years (about $4,000, 900 100000 miles)
from the earth. which Is moderate
distance automatically, and many OK
them would probably be very bright,
except for the curtain OF dark mate
rial hung between them and the earth.
The density Of the curtain apparently
varies, from the manner In which the
stars behind 1t are Pickering. At the
densest, the black nebulae are believed
to be very rare, large stretches OF
vacuum separating the particles OK
matter. Still they are sufficient. be-
cause Of the great space they occupy.
to blot out stars, and some astron-
omers believe the sky would be blind
ingly brilliant except for the smoky
patches. The black spot in Orion Is
calculated to be vastly greater than
our solar system.
In brief account Of his theory in
the Journal of Geology, Doctor Shap-
lev said that 1t Is calculated that a
few million years ago our sun was In
the vicinity Of the Orion nebulae; at
its present speed the sun would re-
ouire nearly million years to pass
through that particular nebulous re-
gion." After showing how starlight Is
cut off at present by billions Of miles
Of dust-clouds in Orion. Doctor Shap-
lev proceeded to suggest how the
earth would fare when our solar sys-
fem moved through the same region.
Effect Of Dust Clouds.
"A change of 20 per cent in the
solar radiation" said Doctor Shapley,
"if maintained for a considerable
period of years, would sufficiently al
fer terrestrial temperature to bring
about or remove IN ice-sheet; an 50
per cent change, unless counteracted
nv concurrent changes in the terri
torjal atmosphere, would completely
/ desiccate or CONCEAL the surface of the
earth.
Doctor Shapley offered this theory
as an addition to many other causes
Of climatic change discussed by DR..
w T. Humphreys Of the United States
weather bureau.
There are apparent flaws in nearly
I'll the theories which have been put
forward. None Of them account fol-
The many far-reaching changes in
climate indicated by the geological
record.
A period of volcanic activity might
cause an age Of cold, according to Doc
tor Humphreys. He calls attention t.
the fact that the great volcano o.
Tomboro in the Malay Archipelago IL
, 1915 darkened the sky during the dal
and night for three days for a dis
lance Of 300 miles and produced (,
long season Of cold because Of the eff
feet of the atmospheric dust In inter
cepting the suns rays.