THE SILENT CITY OF THE MUIR GLACIER, 161 



assembled together firmly, and the experiment of separating them 

 was rewarded with prompt success. On account of the magnitude 

 of the large gun it had been impossible to heat it with perfect uni- 

 formity from without, while no such difficulty was experienced 

 with the much smaller dummy. A series of measurements upon 

 the large gun revealed the fact that during the first experiment it 

 had become warped, and the diameter of the tube had been dimin- 

 ished in varying degrees at different parts. 



Whether such results as these would have been brought about 

 had the materials been of the best quality of crucible steel instead 

 of open-hearth steel can not be answered positively. The larger 

 the gun the greater is the danger of such mishaps. It is left to 

 coming experience to determine which is to be the steel of the 

 future for gun construction. 



THE SILENT CITY OF THE MUIR GLACIER. 



By DAVID STARK JORDAN, 



PRESIDENT OF LELAND STANFORD JUNIOK UNIVERSITY. 



MR. RICHARD G. WILLOUGHBY is a mining prospector 

 and " promoter," resident in Juneau, Alaska, a man whose 

 vocation enables him to see some wonderful things. In June, 1888, 

 according to his statement, Mr. Willoughby beheld an extraor- 

 dinary mirage from the surface of the Muir Glacier. It was the 

 apparition of a great city of tall houses of brick and stone, plainly 

 shown in the air under the influence of some powerful refraction. 

 Behind the city was a river in which shipping was faintly shown. 

 In the foreground the leafless branches of tall elm trees were 

 clearly traceable. In the center of the city was a large edifice 

 with several towers, and on some of these towers the presence of 

 scaffolding showed that building was still going on. This mirage 

 was seen by him several times from year to year, and on the 

 unfinished building the stages in the process of erection each 

 season could be distinctly followed. 



Mr. Willoughby sent to San Francisco and secured a camera 

 with a number of highly sensitized plates of the usual commer- 

 cial sort in order to photograph the apparition. This he suc- 

 ceeded in doing but once successfully. The necessary exposure 

 was a very long one, because of the unsubstantiality of the object. 

 The one negative, however, gave a fairly clear print. Copies 

 were at once made, and R. G. Willoughby's Silent City (seventy- 

 five cents each) was added to the wonders of Alaska. I present 

 herewith a copy of this picture bought by me in Sitka in 180(). 

 The picture is not quite the same as the original edition of 1888. 



VOL. LI. 12 



